Duke scored the final six points of the game to secure a hard-fought 62-57 win over North Carolina Saturday evening, sweeping the regular-season series.
The win was Duke’s sixth straight and ends their regular season at 23-8 overall, 14-6 in the ACC.
Duke’s recipe was a familiar one for Jon Scheyer’s first season, a rock-ribbed defense, aided and abetted by solid foul shooting and a dominant performance--after a shaky first few minutes--by Kyle Filipowski.
And yes, it helped enormously that the Tar Heels hit only 5 of 23 from beyond the arc, every Tar Heel not named R.J. Davis making 2 of 17 from downtown.
It did take Duke to time to find their sea legs. It took Duke 3:34 to get on the scoreboard, a short jumper by Mark Mitchell making it 5-2. Jeremy Roach tied it at 5-5 with a 3 and put Duke up 11-9 with another 3.
The teams settled in, neither giving much ground. Duke led by four at 13-9, 18-14, 22-18 and 28-24, then six points at 31-25 (with the ball). But Dereck Lively II missed most of the first half in foul trouble and Armando Bacot cut Duke’s lead to 33-31 with a goal-tending call on an offensive rebound right before the buzzer ending the first half.
The second half was a street fight. Duke again threatened to get some separation, extending the lead to seven at 43-36. But every time Duke stretched the rubber band, Carolina snapped it back. A 7-0 Tar Heel run, capped by an R.J. Davis 3-pointer and it was tied again.
Duke got stuck on 43 points for 4:27.
For 13 nerve-racking minutes, until a last-second layup by Filipowski, neither team ever led by more than four points. Duke led 45-43 on a Filipowski jumper before 3-pointers by Davis and Pete Nance gave Carolina a 49-45 lead, a 13-2 Carolina run, 8:34 left and the Smith Center crowd trying to will their desperate team home.
But Duke’s callow freshmen have grown up. Mitchell and Lively--playing with four fouls--tied it up and the teams exchanged leads until that crucial final segment.
And what a segment it was.
Bacot gave Carolina its last lead of the game on two foul shots; he was 9 for 10 from the line. It was 57-56, with 1:57 left.
Filipowski blew by Pete Nance and drew the shooting foul.
He nailed both freebies. Ninety-eight seconds left. Eighth and final lead change of the second half.
This time Carolina couldn’t answer. Leaky Black missed a bank shot inside and Mitchell corralled the rebound.
Roach had not had much of a second half. But he split the defense and scored inside.
60-57, with 50 seconds left.
“He’s been that guy for us,” Jon Scheyer said. “He didn’t have his best stuff tonight and still found a way just to will it in with that basket to go up three.”
Davis missed a contested layup and Mitchell grabbed another clutch rebound in traffic.
“Mark Mitchell, he probably had two of the biggest plays of anybody on our team all year,” Scheyer said. “He had two rebounds in traffic that were, it was a man rebound. Both of them. And they came at a key time.”
A couple of fouls got Duke in the one-and-one but Filipowski missed a chance to wrap it up by missing from the line.
Duke needed one more stop and they got it. Love was 0-5 on 3s and Duke made him take a tough one and he missed number six. Lively grabbed the rebound and found Filipowski down court for the layup that finished the scoring.
Filipowski ended with 22 points, 13 rebounds, a block and a steal.
“For Flip, we just went to him,” Scheyer said. “And he found a way to manufacture points when we needed them the most.”
He was joined in double figures by Proctor (13 points), Roach (10) and Mitchell (10). Lively and Ryan Young each had six rebounds, Lively three blocks in 17 minutes. Somehow Duke managed to be credited with only four assists (eight turnovers) on 22 made field goals.
Davis and Bacot led Carolina with 17 points each, Bacot with 11 rebounds. The teams were even on the boards at 39 each but Duke’s 38 percent shooting trumped UNC’s 30 percent.
And yes, Duke clinched a double-bye for next week’s festivities in Greensboro. Duke will open play Thursday at 2:30 against Pitt, Florida State or Georgia Tech.
As an aside, Duke has now won three of its last four games in Chapel Hill, 15 of the last 25.
“This was a physical game,” Scheyer summed up. “And we had to do some things to gut it out. But now we need to refocus, understanding postseason is a different animal. It’s one-and-done time and there’s a lot to learn from this. But the belief is there for us, and that’s as important as anything.”
What a gutty performance from our guys. No doubt about it, defense is this team's calling card. Our freshmen have grown up. Great article, Jim.
GoDuke!
Not enough credit has been given to Jon Scheyer and his assistant coaches in molding this young team together and getting them playing their best basketball as tournament time approaches.
We still have yet to see the uber talented freshman Dariq Whitehead emerge to take control of a game- we will need him to do so soon.