It wasn't always easy and it wasn't always a thing of beauty, but in the end, it got the job done.
Fueled by increased defensive pressure down the stretch, the second-ranked Blue Devils (20-1, 8-0 in the ACC) pulled away late in the second half to emerge with an 89-77 win over the 10th-ranked Tar Heels (17-5, 5-3) last night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
When Trajan Langdon hit a three-point shot from the left corner with 8:44 remaining in the game to tie the score at 68, Duke began a 12-1 run to take control of the ballgame.
After Langdon's basket, Brendan Haywood got called for traveling, committing the first in a long string of turnovers for UNC. On the Tar Heels' next possession, Chris Burgess stole the ball from Vasco Evtimov and fed it to Chris Carrawell for his first of two slam dunks.
Carrawell dominated the floor for the next two minutes, blocking a Ron Curry shot, stealing the ball from first Ademola Okulaja and then Curry and throwing down a one-handed slam dunk on the fast break from his second steal with 5:52 left.
That period of a little less than three minutes proved to be the major turning point of the game, as the Tar Heels' chance for an upset faded and the Blue Devils closed out their 15th straight win.
"We made some good defensive stops that really opened up the game," Shane Battier said. "We could sense their apprehension once we got a five-point, seven-point lead, and they started to rush things and we started to force some more turnovers."
During this stretch, Carolina committed
A big key for the Blue Devils all game long was the play of Will Avery. The point guard committed just one turnover and overcame an average performance against St. John's by leading all scorers last night with 21 points.
Avery also led Duke's offense in the first half with 13 points, but the Blue Devils' defense in the first half was not nearly as stifling. UNC shot 55 percent and outrebounded Duke by five.
"We did not do a good job on the boards in the first half," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "They seemed to get every second-chance basket. We'd get a five-point lead in the first half and play pretty good defense, and the ball would go up, they'd get the rebound and we'd foul them."
Uncharacteristically, Duke didn't fare very well behind the three-point arc either. A Blue Devil squad that leads the ACC in three-point field goal percentage, at just above 40 percent, went 6-of-22 from outside last night.
The trifectas Duke did make, however, came at critical points during the game. In addition to Langdon's three-point basket that broke the tie in the second half, he made one early in the second half, erasing a one-point deficit to put Duke ahead 49-47. Then, with 2:47 left in the game, Langdon nailed another to put his team up 80-72, which tied Duke's largest lead of the game to that point. Ironically, those were the only three-pointers the senior made all night.
"My legs
The Tar Heels pretty much avoided the perimeter, making only one three-point shot and taking only five total from behind the arc. Instead, they opted to use post players Okulaja, Haywood and Kris Lang's size and point guard Ed Cota's agility to penetrate and score their points in the frontcourt.
Cota led the Tar Heels, netting 20 points and seven assists. The 6-1 junior drained six of his eight field goals from the paint, in addition to pulling down five rebounds, four on the offensive end.
"He's a tremendous penetrator," Avery said of Cota. "He has a lot of space to work with out there, because [his teammates] are really low; they're down there screening all the time. He's been to two Final Fours, so he has the experience. He's an older guy, and he's very confident. I'd put him up there with the best. He's one of the best in the country."
But as the clock ran down, neither Cota's speed and agility nor the Tar Heels' imposing frontcourt were enough to stop the Blue Devils.
"We certainly want to congratulate Duke on a very good win," UNC coach Bill Guthridge said. "I think both teams really played hard. I think it was a great college basketball game. They just handled some situations a little better than we did down the stretch and got the win."
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