ON THEIR HEELS: No. 2 Duke men's basketball's second-half surge defeats North Carolina 82-69

CHAPEL HILL — Swept. 

While North Carolina kept it interesting, Duke escaped its rival on the road, closing out the regular season with a 82-69 win. Four of Duke’s starters finished with double digits, and the visitors demolished the Tar Heels on the glass 39-26. The win was head coach Jon Scheyer’s second in the Dean E. Smith Center, and his second time sweeping North Carolina in the regular season — he did both in his first year as the Blue Devils’ head coach. 

“We always talk about just doing your job in those moments, and having that trust,” Scheyer said. “And our guys came back, and we got stops right away. Our offense wasn't there, and then we came back, we were able to put both together.”

With 11:27 remaining, Cooper Flagg stood on the line. Duke (28-3, 19-1 in the ACC) was down by two. The freshman made both free throws, and Duke’s slump was over. It was back even with North Carolina — 59 apiece. This time, contrary to the first 28-and-a-half minutes of play, it was the Tar Heels (20-12, 13-7) turning it over. 

Caleb Foster, after being absent from the home finale Monday night, pressured RJ Davis into a bad pass that bounced off Ven-Allen Lubin. That became a Kon Knueppel layup. Sion James picked off Davis’ pass attempt, and Foster cashed that one in for two at the rim. Knueppel grabbed the ball after a Jae’Lyn Withers miss as the Tar Heels were trying to keep it in bounds. James passed it to Maliq Brown for a dunk, and less than two minutes after Flagg’s free throws, the Blue Devils led by six. 

“The majority of the time, if not all the time, guys can pout, quit, make an excuse, be pissed. I’m sure [Foster's] pissed at me. That's fine. That's good. I'm all for that,” Scheyer said. “But his attitude was like, he just had such a competitiveness about him the last couple of days. As we got into the game, I thought we were missing what he had.”

The first time these teams faced off this season, the Tar Heels were quickly overwhelmed by the Blue Devils’ length. Davis adjusted his lineup in response, moving away from four-guard small ball, adding Withers into the starting lineup along with combo guard Drake Powell. 

The bigger lineup had a counterintuitive effect. In the first game, North Carolina won the rebounding margin 31-26. Duke made its killing with 19 points off turnovers — it only gave the ball away eight times, as opposed to its opponent’s 14. Saturday evening, the roles were reversed. Flagg and Khaman Maluach dominated the boards, but the Blue Devils couldn’t hold onto the ball, and the Tar Heels capitalized. 

For the next six minutes, the Tar Heels held onto their lead. Both teams penetrated the paint and traded layups, though the margin hovered around five. With 12 minutes remaining, Flagg tipped in a miss by James. Powell missed his 3-point attempt in response, and Seth Trimble fouled Flagg on a fast-break shot, sending him to the line for the game-tying shots. After those free throws, the Blue Devils never looked back. Brown, known more for his deflection skills than his shooting ability, hit two triples. 

“The one thing with being off this amount of time, he has shot a ton…” Scheyer said of Brown. “Now he's kicking Justin Robinson's ass in shooting games.”

All 14 team turnovers were committed before the nine-minute mark. Duke finished out clean, doing what it does best. With 1:30 left to play, Flagg had a monster dunk to make it 82-67, and the mass exodus of Tar Heel fans began. 

“The jeers coming out right away from the crowd, but also just seeing the fans as they're leaving. That's something we cherish on the road,” Knueppel said. 

Tyrese Proctor was the lone man in the rotation who had won in the Dean Dome. The junior was calm, cool and collected, especially with Flagg in foul trouble. The current odds leader to win the Wooden Award picked up his second foul just more than seven minutes into the game, sidelining him for much of the first half. 

“When Cooper was out, that's one less ball handler, but we brought in another ball handler right there with him,” said James. 

But as they did last Saturday against Florida State, Flagg’s teammates proved that the Blue Devils are much more than a one-man show. Proctor hit a triple, and Evans reeled in a miss by Davis to set up a Knueppel layup. The Tar Heels responded with a triple of their own, this time by freshman Ian Jackson. Maluach was the finisher next for Duke, tipping in Proctor’s missed layup. 

Over the next six minutes, Davis and his team clawed their way back from an 11-point deficit. With strong rebounding, a block, two steals and seven points from Davis, North Carolina ended the half within one. Against the sixth-best scoring defense in the country averaging just 61.1 points allowed per game, the Tar Heels scored 42 in the first half. They trailed by just one at the break as Davis’ 15 led the way. 

While North Carolina controlled the beginning of the final frame, Duke slowly but surely came back and took the lead back for good with 10:49 to play. 

Duke has a double-bye in the ACC Tournament, automatically advancing to the quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed. It will play Thursday at noon in Charlotte. 

---