Duke 71-North Carolina 70
How fitting of an ending. After watching 39:56 of the game……the biggest moment of the game…..Carolina turned it over. With 18 seconds left in the game…..Duke’s JJ Reddick’s 3-point shot sailed out of bounds and UNC had that much time to get a shot off to win the game. Eighteen seconds.
Last spring, I watched Derek Fisher get a shot off in 0.4 seconds. UNC couldn’t with 45 times as many ticks.
I could swallow it better if we missed a shot. McCants for three….May with a turnaround….Felton with a floater. None of those things happened. Instead, Felton….who had a lane open up for him with about 9 seconds left but didn’t take it….picked up his dribble, tossed a bad pass to Noel [what was he doing in the game anyways?], and Noel dribbled it out of bounds. That makes you sick. To play that well defensively down the stretch to even put yourself in that position…..and you turn it over in that fashion.
Uh...that guy with the glasses is a student?? Or maybe just a plant? FAC-UL-TY!!!! FAC-UL-TY!!!
Why not? The Tar Heels turned it over 23 times in the game…and the top assist team in the nation dished out only 10. TEN! The possession before the infamous final one, Marvin Williams had a path to the basket and instead threw a pass at Sean May’s feet. Felton uncharacteristically looked shaky. Jawad Williams acted like this was his first trip to Cameron.
Raymond Felton, the guy who intiated the final miscue, had EIGHT turnovers. In now three career games as UNC coach against Duke....coach Roy Williams is 0-3. Those losses were by a combined 8 points.
A Carolina point guard and the ball are easily departed
With just over 5 minutes left, Duke held momentum and a 67-58 lead. Carolina made a valiant 12-4 run to end the game….but it still left them one point behind. Enter the turnover.
Interesting stats of the game. North Carolina made 25 shots while Duke made only 20. North Carolina shoots 48%?.while Duke shoots 38%. So how did they win?? Duke shot 21-for-22 from the FT line and shot 10-for-23 from behind the arc [UNC made 17 free throws and three 3-pters]. The oddest stat is the one where Duke made only ONE TWO-POINT SHOT in the second half. Amazing.
So #2 North Carolina loses for the second time on the Tobacco Road. A month ago, the Heels were downed in Winston-Salem against Wake Forest. That is a pretty bad sign. Their two toughest road tests, in reality their only tough road tests, they lost. And both were to the teams they are fighting with to win the ACC regular season title. They have a non-conference game in Connecticut, before two winnable games at home against Virginia and Clemson. They then go TO NC State and TO Maryland. A week later?..Duke again.
This was an equally huge win for Duke. They, too, have lost in Winston-Salem?and a home loss to UNC would really put them behind the 8-ball. They?d be 2 full games behind for first and pretty much MUST win the game against Wake in Durham and then go into Carolina and win. Also, they head into a stretch which sees them on the road for 4 of their next 5.?the only home game is against Wake.?including a Saturday date with Maryland [the lone team to beat Duke in Durham this year] in College Park. After all of that?a home game with Miami then at Carolina.
BLUE DEVIL OF THE GAME: Daniel Ewing. While Sheldon Williams set the tempo early with his blocked shots?.it was Ewing that made Duke go in three phases. One, he stuck with Raymond Felton, not giving him a ton of space to make plays in the half court or in the open court. Two, he scored 15 points?including three huge 3-pters. Third, and most importantly, he wisely controlled the tempo. Carolina cannot score 92 points when they don?t get as many possessions as they are accustomed to.
TAR HEEL OF THE GAME: Sean May. May sure steps up in these big games. He scored 23 points and nabbed 19 rebounds. He seemedto be the only Tar Heel in a consistent flow all game long and amazing that no one on the court saw that.
BLUE DEVIL NOT IN THE GAME: Shavlik Randolph. It wasn?t a real good game for the forwards in this game. Randolph, who's parents went to UNC and grandfather starred at NC State, scored 4 pts on just 1-of-4 shooting.
TAR HEEL NOT IN THE GAME: Rashad McCants. Randolph?s counterman Jawad Williams should getthis honor?.but he?s not played well of late and Marvin Williams has been getting more of his minutes. But, McCants cannot shoot 3-of-14 [1-7 from behind the arc] for just 11 points. A scorer of his stature just can?t get to the line a mere 4 times. McCants, again, saves his worst games for the biggest times.
FRESHMAN OF THE GAME: DeMarcus Nelson. Theguy was solid. He scored 16 points....made all 4 of his FTs and both of his 3-pt shots.
22 comments:
#*%! DUKE
I was shocked that Carolina played Duke's game. I do not believe this will happen in Chapel Hill. The game there will not be slowed down.
Then again...
game wasn't a classic battle between the two teams but it certainly was worth watching. defense was certainly the name of the game that night. i wasn't surprised that the game ended on a defensive note. i get a kick out of announcers who claim that a certain player or players were off their game that night. i wonder what happen to giving credit to the defensive efforts of opposing players. great game none the less
In Chapel Hill, I KNOW Carolina will get the victory back!
Piss on all the duke haters .. they have s strong team with strong players you guys must not be good at anything you do that is probbly why you hate on the teams that are good and like the losing teams. Open up your eyes and realize that you are hating on the wrong teams
Face it...the ACC is grossly overated, including North Carolina! You all should know that the only reason for all the hype around the ACC and the Tar Heels in particular is the washed up sports commentator...Dickie V.
Agree with your comments.
I am fearful that Duke has taken on that long-time Tar Heel frame of mind that, "if its close, we're gonna find a way to win." UNC is not used to winning these games...yet.
Carolina needs to get some big-time games out of its big-time players (May has done this).
Final point is that Duke has painted itself as a team with depleted personnel, an off year. While it may be true that this team would have been incredibly strong with Deng and others...it is a pretty strong team with at least three guys (Williams, Ewing, Redick) who will play in the NBA. I might also argue that while UNC is deeper, these three has better pro potential than any of our three.
Duke may not be deep, but it has three players and some role players that are as good as any team in the nation.
From the outset, McCants was not in the game, hence the dribble off his knee on the breakaway. Felton was not much better. One has to wonder if the Heels have the proper frame of mind for the big games.
I was disappointed that felton failed to take his open lane to the hoop n try to draw a foul n his ill advisedpass to Noel was wrong they should hadwon but did not! They still r in a good position ot win the Acc there performance at uconn proved just so! 77-70 Duke lost at Marylandthat night 99-92 so the bluedevils are not as strong as tarheels are. I am surecarolina will be ready for them n the opponets coming up for nc thay have already beaten If they play wake forest again I am sure carolina will be ready. CARLOINAIS 20-3 THYE WILL BE IN FINAL 4 N FINAL 2
THEY PROVED THEY CAN BEAT RANKED TEAMTHEY BEAT GREAT OPPONTS THIS YEAR KENTUCKY N SOME PAC 10 TEAMS N DEFEDNING NATIONAL CHAMPS TO NORTHCAROLINA IS LIKEANY OTHER TEAM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HUMAN N DUKEIS NOTHING BUT NOT AS DEEP AS NORTHCAROLINA . DUKE MIGHT BE IN NCAA TOURNAMNET BUTTHEY WILLNOT GO FAR AS CAROLINA WILL! DUKEHAS MORE TOUGHER GAMES THAN NC SO THEY BETTER REGROUP BECAUSE CAROLINA WILL TAKE THEM DOWN
Let's not over analyze this and call a spade , a spade> The college bBall game is determined almost solely by the play of your point guard! Felton choked on the final play! You must have the atitiude that you want to take the final shot, he does not have that mentality. I'm the world's biggest Tarheel fan for more than 35 years and as go the point guard, so goes carolina. Felton had a horrendous game in total with the weak cross the court passes that were picked off and went the other way. Tha guy played like he was intimidated. He was not strong with the ball and was thoroughly outplayed by both Ewing and the freshman Nelson. Do you think Phil Ford, Kenny Smith or even Ed Cota for that matter would have passed up the final shot or not driven the wide open lane? Again let's call it what it is the Guy Choked as he did the entire night! Finally, It was great to see May play with some intensity and aggression, he too has been a bit soft against quality big men in the past, but not on Thursday nite. As for McCants, the guy settles for the jumper too much and should drive to the basket and exploit his physical advantage when the jumper is not falling! Perhaps some one on the bench should recognize this and demand that he asserts himself and attack the basket! (F he's being told to do that and isn't responding, then perhaps he should be setting on the bench with the coaches)
aa1baldwin
at least duke got what they deserved from maryland/// the refs called it fairly this time and didn't let duke get away with all the cheap shots they usually do... maybe mike should try coaching and quit trying to influence every call by the officials... go tarheels... and lets hope wake beats duke too
This is for all the carolina haters and for the ones that think carolina is a joke. well first off i want to start out with the unc and duke game unc would have won it if they wuold have called the fouls on duke bc they was just smackin and grabing at unc and they never called it but when duke had the ball unc wuold jsut tip them or not even touch them and they would call a foul. to me that is cheating and thats why i knew unc wouldnt win there bc they cheat. and everyone knows unc is way better than duke is there is no dought to that one. and they are better than wake. but everyone has there bad day but they did have a bad day at wake and at duke but it was just way to much cheatin goin on at duke. so who ever is a carolina hater well your just jealous because unc is better and they have beaten duke more than duke has beaten unc. so dont hate the team just watch them win it this year.
In reading these posts I am amazed at the ignorance and blindness to the truth. First, I am a Carolina grad (class of 96, go HEELS!); however, let's get real. Stop buying into the hype that UNC is the best team in the nation, they aren't. I think after a few bad years we are all hoping to be back on top right now! Duke did not cheat, what did they pay the refs before the game, give some thought to your post. Look at the facts, 2 games on the road versus some quality opponents and we lose, the team lacks composure on the road and Roy has some questionable decisions (i.e. David Noel in the game with 18 secs left and down 1 point; David Noel??!?!?!?). Secondly, I hate to say this but you need to root for Duke in their game against Wake so if Carolina can win the rest of their ACC games they can finish 1st in the ACC, if left tied at the end of the season Wake would take the number 1 slot at the tournament and we want that number 1 seed heading into the tourney. So come on admit it, it's good to be back on top, it's good to be good again, but noone cheated, we were outplayed and as much as this hurts out coached. War Tarheels! War National Championship! (but I want cry foul if we don't make it!)
Dear Anti-Carolina (Idiots) Put UNC and Duke on a neutral court ( A muzzle over Coach K's mouth), Pacific Ten refs, and play 10 times, UNC would win ALL TEN of them!!!!!
Duke won for many reasons. Here is one of them: Carolina is way too cocky. Just because they are second does not mean they are unbeatable. This lead to their downfall.
DUKE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CAROLINA SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!
I was also wondering why Felton didn't take the ball to the hoop, he had a lane as big as I had seen all night. I read that the DUKE players where saying CAROLINA had played some good defense but I didn't see it that way.
i'm shocked....shocked that the arrogance has returned to chapel hill before the championship play....did carolina fans really think that the heels were gonna waltz into CAMERON and BLOW DUKE OUT?.......after losing 14 of last 16 games, you'd think the tarholes would just be positive about this year's play and hope for a good game..
the crow has to taste really crappy after that game...
neither team has a chance against illinois
It just goes to show that the team that doesn't quit wins; and that is usually always Duke Go Duke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To all those TAR HEEL HATERS,duke played the best game they could play,and won by 1.Carolina played like crap,and lost by 1.see ya march 6th in our house DON'T BE SURPRISED IF IT'S A BLOWOUT!!!
Coach K has to work hard for this team and he does. This is not his best team but he is coaching them to a winning season. I love the way they play together. The Duke team is a team not a me me me team. They look for the open player. When this season is over, Coach K will need a good rest. He is a great teacher no matter what you think of Duke. I wish all coaches were like Coach K, teachers.
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