Duke dominates Tar Heels

87-70 the final and it wasn't that close

Beat-down. Clinic. Surgical dissection.

Whatever descriptor you use it boils down to the fact that for the first 33 minutes or so Duke played about as well it could play against North Carolina Saturday night, an 87-70 win running its record to 11-0 in the ACC, 19-2 overall, 15 straight wins.

Duke has had some slow starts lately, Boston College and NC State prime examples. But there was no playing to the level of the competition against the struggling Tar Heels..

Duke never trailed. After a 2-2 tie, Cooper Flagg put Duke up 5-2 with a 3-pointer. But the decisive break came in a 16-0 run that took only three minutes and left Duke with a 25-6 lead.

“It was a lot of fun,” Tyrese Proctor said. “We had a great preparation week. Just come out like that and get stops in a row and that helps our offense. We can’t give these teams life early.”

Proctor, Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Sion James all contributed on the offensive end during that run.

But it was on defense where Duke imposed its will.

“Unforced turnovers and shot selection,” Hubert Davis lamented of his team’s slow start, referencing Duke’s ability to turn live-ball turnovers into “pick-sixes.”

Maliq Brown entered about five minutes into the game and notched a steal 12 seconds later, that turned into a Flagg three-point play.

Of course he did.

Duke never gave the visitors any real hope. They added an 11-0 run to that 16-0 run to go up 40-13.

James said Duke did what it does better than what Carolina does best.

“That's what we came here to do. That’s Duke defense. We talk about it all the time. . They’re a good team. They’ve got guys who can get it and go and we wanted to show them bodies and make it hard on them. We know our strengths. That’s a really fast team. All of their guards can run by guys. That’s their strength. Our strength is size and length.”

“I thought Sion and Tyrese, their defense is so good,” Jon Scheyer added. “They’re guarding everybody on the floor. I thought what they did really helped tonight.”

It was 47-22 at the half, Carolina barely beating the point-a-minute metric.

Flagg had 13 points in the first half, Knueppel nine. But most encouraging was the return of Proctor’s offense, 10 points on a triple, a jumper and five-for-five from the line.

“I’ve been working my butt off every day,” he said. “All my shots have been good shots, they’ve been rolling in and out. You go through that in a season. Not changing anything and just staying consistent and confident.”

Scheyer said the two spent lots of time looking at film this week and said Proctor’s “preparation these last two days was at the highest level.”

The Tar Heels aggressively doubled Flagg to begin the second half and Knueppel took advantage, a dunk 17 seconds into the half, then a triple, then a foul shot, six points in 84 seconds.

Duke got its biggest lead at 77-45 on an Isaiah Evans 3-pointer with 9:04 left. Duke still led 79-52 when the Tar Heels went on a 11-0 run. Scheyer called timeout, Duke stabilized and played it out.

That 11-0 run? Carolina was playing hard and human nature is human nature.

Knueppel led everyone with 22 points, one more than Flagg, Proctor finished with 17, James 13.

R.J. Davis and Drake Powell led Carolina with 12 each, Davis 4 for 11 from the field.

Flagg had eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks, while Knueppel added five assists.

Duke had 20 assists on 28 made field goal and turned it over only eight times. A 2.5 to 1 assist/turnover ratio will win you a lot of games.

“Our guys really executed well,” Scheyer said, “the passes, we just had some great connecting, sharing plays. Obviously when you can get out in transition, that’s a big deal. But I thought our half-court offense, to manufacture some good looks, was night and day a lot better.”

The Tar Heels turned it over 14 times.

Although not an official stat Duke was citing 23 deflections in the post-game, a season best.

“The team that had an edge really won this game,” Scheyer said. “That’s something we just kept talking about. These guys had it. Not just starting that way but continuing to compete the whole way.”