In 2001, as they so often have, Duke and UNC met in the ACC Tournament finals and the #1 seed in the East was on the line.
Duke was playing without center Carlos Boozer, out with a foot injury and started Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy, Casey Sanders, Chris Duhon and Jason Williams.
UNC was in the first year of the disastrous Matt Doherty era and started Jason Capel, Kris Lang, Brendan Haywood, Ronald Curry, and Joseph Forte.
Duke had Reggie Love coming off the bench while UNC had a football walk-on as
well in Julius Peppers.
It looked for a while like a typical Duke-UNC matchup but then the Blue Devils went on a 19-1 run in the first half to blow the game open, cruising to a surprisingly easy 79-53 win, Duke’s third straight ACC title. UNC shot just 29 percent and didn’t hit a three. Duke scored 19 in transition to just four for the Heels.
UNC would make the tournament as a #2 seed in the South but got upset in the round of 32, losing 82-74 to Penn State. The following season, the bottom would fall out as Doherty’s second team finished just 8-20. He would coach just one more season before his, uh, intensity forced UNC to force him to resign.
Duke would go on to win the 2001 national championship, winning every tournament game by double figures. Mike Krzyzewski would continue as Duke’s coach for another 21 years for a total of 42 seasons. He would finish with five national championships and a record 1, 202 wins. This win over UNC was nearly the halfway point as it was win #600.
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