UNC came into Saturday night’s game against Duke as big underdogs with the news that Caleb Wilson would miss the rest of the season with a broken thumb. The Tar Heels gave fans a glimmer of hope that they’d find a way to stay competitive before a 24-2 run absolutely buried them on their way to a 76-61 loss.
The final score ended up looking closer than the second half actually was. Carolina, who trailed by five at halftime, came out hot in the second half and cut the Duke lead to just one. From there,
though, they were out of sorts offensively and continued the bad trend of the first half of turning the ball over at much too high a clip. Duke finished the game with a 24-4 advantage in points off turnovers. The Blue Devils also dominated the Heels on the glass, 42-29, especially on offensive rebounds. Duke had 14 second chance points and it feels stunning that it was that low.
Carolina actually shot better from the field in both halves. Their 14 turnovers were absolute killers, as was the nearly 10 minutes they went in the second half without scoring. You just can’t do that against a team as good as Duke and expect to win. A loss here was obviously not an unexpected result, but it’s how they lost that feels most frustrating.
Derek Dixon led the team with 17 points. He made five of his eight shots from deep and half of the team’s four free throws. Henri Veesaar was one rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards. Seth Trimble and Jarin Stevenson finished the game with 10 points each.
Duke wasn’t at full strength either with Patrick Ngongba missing the game and Caleb Foster exiting early on. Foster returned to the bench in a boot. Carolina really had little answer for Cameron Boozer, who scored a game-high 26 points and had 15 rebounds. Maliq Brown flirted with some foul trouble but finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. He also had five steals.
The Tar Heels now await the winner of the Clemson vs. Virginia Tech/Wake Forest game in next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte. If Carolina wins that game they will almost certainly be facing this Duke team again for the rubber match of the season. Fun.
