To celebrate Duke’s historic rivalry with North Carolina, we’ve compiled a list of the Blue Devils’ top 10 plays against the Tar Heels this century, taking into account the play itself, its impact and the circumstances surrounding it. Without further ado, sit back and enjoy Duke’s best plays since 2000 against its Tobacco Road foes:
10. Marvin Bagley III slams home game-sealing alley-oop
Duke legend Grayson Allen’s last career home game in 2018 saw the fifth-ranked Blue Devils overcome a 13-point second-half deficit against defending national champions and No. 9 North Carolina, forcing a 60-60 tie with six and a half minutes left. The freshman quartet of Bagley, Trevon Duval, Gary Trent Jr. and Wendell Carter Jr. each converted clutch baskets in the final minutes, with the latter nailing a rare contested three to give Duke a 70-62 lead.
Two minutes after the triple, with his team up six, Duval dribbled towards the paint. He drew three Tar Heel defenders, before deftly casting the ball towards a rising Bagley. The future No. 2 overall pick jammed the alley-oop over Luke Maye, sending the Cameron Crazies into a frenzy. The Blue Devils closed out a 74-64 victory as a tearful Allen embraced legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski before exiting Cameron Indoor Stadium one last time.
9. Jayson Tatum posterizes Kennedy Meeks with thunderous dunk
Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum boasts an incredible resume — five NBA All-Star appearances, four All-NBA honors and the 2024 NBA championship. Back in 2017, Tatum spearheaded No. 18 Duke as it welcomed No. 8 North Carolina on Coach K Court.
After failing to score a single point in the first half, Tatum received a pass from Allen, faked a three and slid through two Tar Heel defenders towards the basket. North Carolina senior Kennedy Meeks prepared to meet Tatum at the rim, but the Blue Devils’ star freshman elevated through the outstretched Meeks to slam home the finish, giving Duke a 53-46 lead. The Tar Heels would come back to tighten the encounter, but a pair of late-game threes from Tatum and Allen clinched an 86-78 Blue Devil victory.
8. JJ Redick swishes dagger three to silence the Dean Dome
JJ Redick’s historic senior season saw Duke’s all-time leading scorer average a staggering 26.8 points per game on his way to earning consensus first-team All-American and 2006 Naismith College Player of the Year honors. With just under two minutes left in the sharpshooter’s final game inside the Dean Smith Center, a clutch Redick three extended the second-ranked Blue Devils’ lead over No. 24 North Carolina to four points.
Then, a minute later, Redick received the ball with Duke up 81-77. The Blue Devil icon dribbled to his right, crossed over a Tar Heel defender and launched a contested 3-point attempt. The ball swished through the net with ease, and the clamors of 21,750 fans suddenly gave way to celebrations of Redick’s 35-point performance and an eventual 87-83 Duke win.
7. Derryck Thornton deflects Joel Berry II’s last-ditch attempt
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
A young, 20th-ranked Blue Devil squad traveled to Chapel Hill in 2016 to take on a much more experienced and heavily favored No. 5 North Carolina. Despite trailing for much of the game, a late 3-pointer from freshman Luke Kennard gave Duke a 72-71 advantage with just under three minutes remaining. Both teams then added two points to their totals, and with 20 seconds left, the Tar Heels collected an Allen miss and headed down the court looking for a game-winning shot.
The Blue Devil defense would not give. North Carolina guard Joel Berry II collected the ball at the top of the key and took on Duke freshman Derryck Thornton, spinning his way into the paint and attempting a midrange jumper. Thornton stuck with his man the whole way through and just managed to deflect the shot up into the air. The Blue Devils won the fight for the rebound and the game, 74-73.
6. Chris Duhon flies through the court for game-winning bucket
Before its 2004 Final Four run, No. 1 Duke clashed with the 19th-ranked Tar Heels in a back-and-forth contest for the ages. At the end of regulation, North Carolina forward Jawad Williams nailed a contested 3-pointer to even the match at 74 points apiece, sending the game into overtime. Then, after a pair of pressure free throws from Redick, the Blue Devils led 81-78 with just 22 seconds left.
North Carolina immediately responded by racing down the court and nailing a game-tying three. However, just as the Dean Dome exploded in glee, Duke senior Chris Duhon sprinted through a distracted Tar Heel defense at lightning speed. Duhon flew from one end of the court to another in just six seconds, before smoothly converting a reverse layup to retake the lead. The Tar Heels’ last-ditch attempt fell short of the basket, and the Blue Devils survived with an 83-81 win.
5. Shane Battier chases down and emphatically blocks Joseph Forte
No. 2 Duke — the eventual national champions — and No. 4 North Carolina fought in a tight struggle early in the second half of the 2001 regular-season finale. Despite the absence of star center Carlos Boozer, the Blue Devils managed to squeeze a narrow six-point lead with 17 minutes remaining, but the Tar Heels responded with an and-one from All-American center Brendan Haywood to make it a 50-47 game.
On the ensuing possession, North Carolina’s other All-American, Joseph Forte, stole the ball from sophomore Mike Dunleavy Jr. and raced towards Duke’s basket to slam the fast break home. Seemingly out of nowhere, Naismith Player of the Year Shane Battier launched himself into the air and swiped the ball out of Forte’s hand just as the latter reached the rim. Duke followed up Battier’s jaw-dropping block with a Jay Williams three and rode that momentum to an emphatic 95-81 win.
4. Zion Williamson wrecks North Carolina’s title chances at the rim
After suffering a knee sprain in 2019’s first edition of the Tobacco Road rivalry, freshman phenom Zion Williamson and the third-seeded Blue Devils got another crack at the second-seeded Tar Heels in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Despite Williamson’s dominant 31-point performance, North Carolina hung in with Duke’s star-studded squad, taking a 73-72 lead with 48 seconds left.
The Blue Devils responded by handing the ball to Williamson, getting out of his way and letting him go to work. The future No. 1 overall NBA draft pick dribbled to the elbow and spun around into the paint, releasing a contested layup attempt. The ball rimmed out, but just as the Tar Heels targeted the rebound, Williamson bullied his way up through three defenders, converting the put-back and sealing a 74-73 win en route to Duke’s ACC Tournament title.
3. 2020 part one: Tre Jones
Before the 2020 season ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the seventh-ranked Blue Devils trailed by 10 points with two minutes remaining at unranked North Carolina. On the back of six consecutive points from sophomore guard Tre Jones and five missed Tar Heel free throws, Duke steadily reduced the deficit but still trailed 84-81 with six seconds left.
North Carolina chose to foul Jones, sending the ACC Player of the Year to the line. Jones made the first free throw, then intentionally missed the second before he grabbed his own rebound. Jones dribbled to his left, split two Tar Heel defenders and just managed to put up a midrange jumper with milliseconds left on the clock. Blue Devil fans held their breaths as the shot found its way home at the buzzer, sending the contest into overtime.
2. 2020 part two: Wendell Moore
Jones continued his spectacular play in the extra period, scoring six more points in the first two and a half minutes. North Carolina came roaring right back though, embarking on an 11-1 run to seize a 96-91 advantage with just over 20 seconds left. A pair of quick buckets from Jones and Moore paired with two critical Tar Heel turnovers meant the ball lay in Jones’ hands with just 10 seconds, trailing by one point.
The sophomore drove to the rim and was fouled, immediately tying the game by swishing the first free throw for his 29th point of the night. However, in a near disaster, Jones' second shot rimmed out, but Moore somehow tapped the ball back to the Blue Devils. From nearly the same spot as his previous buzzer-beater, Jones released another potentially-game winning jumper. The ball didn’t even hit the rim, instead falling to an uncovered Moore, who tipped it into the unguarded basket as the clock expired. The Duke bench erupted after the Blue Devils improbably nailed back-to-back buzzer-beaters, seizing a 98-96 win.
1. Austin Rivers’ last-second three vanquishes the Tar Heels
Like in the previous two plays on this list, No. 5 North Carolina led No. 9 Duke 82-72 with just over two minutes left in the Dean Dome’s 2012 iteration of the rivalry. Two Blue Devil threes and a deep midrange jumper reduced the deficit to two in under a minute, and junior Ryan Kelly’s errant 3-pointer was deflected into the basket by North Carolina’s own Tyler Zeller. Following 1-of-2 free throws from Zeller, the Blue Devils handed the rock to freshman Austin Rivers, down 84-82 with the clock reading 13 seconds.
Rivers dribbled down the court to the left, then crossed over to his right before stopping in front of Zeller, letting the clock run. Rivers did not settle for a 2-point attempt, instead releasing a contested three over the top of the center with less than two seconds left in regulation. The ball arced gracefully through the air and hit nothing but the net. A stunned North Carolina crowd watched as the Duke bench stormed the court to celebrate the Blue Devils’ 85-84 victory and one of the most memorable plays in Duke basketball history.

Rodrigo Amare is a Trinity sophomore and assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.