With his team already down 14-0 to North Carolina Tuesday night, Duke’s Antwone Floyd scored a quick takedown on Chris Ramos. Twenty seconds later, Ramos got to his feet, and instead of trying to bring him back to the mat, Floyd let him go. He would not score again and Ramos took a 10-2 major decision to increase UNC’s lead to 18.
From the opening whistle, it was clear that the Tar Heels (4-5, 3-1 in the ACC) had entered Cameron Indoor Stadium with an intensity unmatched by the Blue Devils (5-3, 1-2). UNC jumped out to an 18-0 lead and was never challenged on the way to a 28-10 victory.
“We were just tired of losing,” UNC head coach C.D. Mock said. “These guys were fired up, and I think they were here to make a statement tonight.”
Duke had talked about stepping up in this match as well but was unable to compete with a more aggressive UNC team.
“We didn’t have the fight that we normally do,” sophomore Bryan Gibson said. “We’ve just got to pick it up in the room and get ready for ACCs.”
Although Duke wrestlers jumped out to an early lead in several matches with good technique on their feet, UNC’s superior work on the mat turned most of those contests around. The Tar Heels dominated the riding time in almost every match, successfully countering the Blue Devils’ impressive takedowns.
“They controlled us on top, and they wore us down,” Duke head coach Clar Anderson said. “By the time we got back to our feet we were exhausted.”
In the second match of the night, Gibson faced heavily favored Evan Sola, No. 9 in the country. The sophomore earned a takedown in the first 30 seconds of the match, but Sola quickly escaped and grabbed a takedown of his own. He then rode Gibson through the first and second periods before pinning him with 29 seconds left in the second period. The pin put UNC on top 10-0.
In the next match, the Tar Heels’ Isaiah Britton took Wesley Kuser down early and used his riding technique to earn a 13-3 major decision, pushing UNC’s lead to 14-0. Gibson and Kuser were underdogs, but both had expected better outcomes.
“We knew they were considered a favorite, but I really expected our guys to do better than they did,” Anderson said. “I don’t know if it was from anxiety or what, but our guys didn’t have the will to rise up and beat someone that was supposed to beat them. You have to reach in deep and fight and we just didn’t do that.”
In the final six matches, Duke stayed even with UNC. Each squad won three, but the Tar Heels’ early lead was too much for Duke to overcome.
“If we had started better in the lighter weights, maybe we could have had a little more steam going into the later matches,” Anderson said. “It’s tough watching your teammates get dominated for seven minutes again and again and trying to get up for your match.”
The Blue Devils now sit at 1-2 in the ACC and hopes of a conference title are probably finished. With league matches remaining against N.C. State and Virginia, Duke now hopes to get in shape for the ACC Tournament.
“We’re going to work on conditioning,” Anderson said. “Blame it on whatever you want, but they were in much better shape than we were and we can’t afford to let that happen.”
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