1. Duke sweeps the regular season series with a 62-57 victory, but it was just a devastating defeat since not enough shots found the hoop. This game was quite similar to the previous meeting.
2. Carolina failed to make a field goal in the last 4:20, going 0 for 7 from the field and 1 for 9. When the Tar Heels did attempt to execute, the shots just did not connect. Given that Durham had a similar situation, it seemed extremely familiar.
3. In the end, Duke's defense deserves some praise. This season, the Tar Heels defeated the Devils twice with 57 points. This time, the field goal percentage was 30.4 and the three-point percentage was 21.7. Because of their superior performance closer to the basket, the Devils managed to eke out enough points. They had 30 points in the paint compared to Carolina's remarkably low 16.
4. With 13 minutes left in the first half, Puff Johnson had a sprained right ankle and had to leave the game, hurting Carolina's rotation straight away. Hubert Davis was forced to use a lot of his bench as a result, as Dontrez Styles, Tyler Nickel, Jalen Washington, and Justin McKoy all saw action in the first half (including a key block late in the half). Seth Trimble, Nickel, Leaky Black, Washington, and Caleb Love were all in the same lineup for the Heels at one point. That group of five hasn't been together for very long.
5. Boxing out will be emphasized at halftime. Even though that was a major practice theme all week, Duke only scored 10 of their first 28 points on second chances. Seven of the Devils' 17 missed shots throughout the opening 20 minutes were rebounded, helping them to a 22-16 first-half rebounding victory.
6. The second-half rebounding battle was deadlocked, 39-39, although Carolina did recover and perform significantly better. After scoring the first 10 points, Duke only managed to score 14 second-chance points overall, but Carolina's attack wasn't effective enough to capitalize on this.
7. Some of that game was affected by foul problems. Armando Bacot received two first-half fouls, while Pete Nance was called for a highly questionable third. Lively and Ryan Young each had two first-half fouls to contend with for the Devils. Early in the second half, Armando Bacot made a shrewd, aggressive move to go straight at Lively and force him to foul, leading to Lively's fourth of the game.
8. Carolina made a stronger effort to go to the free throw line, in part because of the aforementioned. The Tar Heels' charity stripe score was 18–21. The unfortunate fact is it was their most consistent offense. Bacot's 68th double-double in his career tied him with Ronnie Shavlik of State for third place all-time in the ACC with a score of 9-10.
9. The Tar Heels scored nine quick points off fast breaks in the first half, but Duke's transition defense held them without a quick point. Carolina struggled to regularly score throughout numerous crucial minutes because they were forced to play in the half court.
10. Leaky Black broke Deon Thompson's career record by participating in his 153rd game as a Tar Heel. On a difficult offensive night, the senior went 3-for-16 from the field and 1-for-7 from three. Duke collapsed inside, taking advantage of his troubles. Love was 3-for-12 and Nance was 1-for-4, but Black wasn't by himself. Black and Love made only one of their thirteen three-point attempts together. Carolina just does not win games when they shoot that poorly from outside, as we have witnessed by this time in the season.
11. The game on Saturday night was opened by five of Carolina's seniors: Armando Bacot, Leaky Black, Jackson Watkins, Justin McKoy, and Pete Nance. Before the game, the five top managers of the program and the quartet received separate awards (Kiersten Steinbacher, Shaylen Atma, Will Lam, Alex Pardue, and obviously the most beloved manager in Tar Heel history, Virginia Lucas). By swiping in on Kyle Filipowski, who had a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds, and inducing travel, Watkins contributed to forcing an early Duke turnover.
Vince Carter, Matt Doherty, Tyler Hansbrough, Bobby Frasor, Marcus Ginyard, Dante Calabria, George Lynch, Rasheed Wallace, Donald Williams, Ed Cota, Melvin Scott, and several other Tar Heel lettermen were in attendance, among other notables.
13. As a result of the defeat, the Tar Heels will face the winner of Boston College vs. Louisville on Wednesday at 7 p.m. as the seventh seed in the ACC Tournament. The winner will take on Virginia on Thursday at 7 p.m.
14. The Tar Heels will be discussed this week in the bubble debate as a result of the defeat. This is the issue: Tonight, Carolina had the appearance of an NCAA Tournament team. They didn't play like an NCAA Tournament team in a number of crucial defeats, including two to Pitt, one at Virginia Tech despite playing without a full roster, and down the line against Iowa State and Alabama. As a result, they put themselves in a situation where they had no cushion.
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