Lucas: Duke Rapid Reactions – University of North Carolina Athletics

By Adam Lucas

1. Nothing went right, Duke played very well, and it was a tough night at the Smith Center.

2. Pretty simple: Carolina got outplayed at the start of the first half and the start of the second half, and that was too big a hole to get out of. A 10-0 Duke run to start the second half was decisive and led to a Tar Heel timeout.

3. A very bad opening stretch saw Duke take a 31-8 lead before most people even got comfortable in their seats. Duke played extremely well in the opening minutes and set the tone directly off the tip.

4. Carolina’s initial plan was to defend Paolo Banchero with Armando Bacot. That plan had to be altered 3:05 into the game, when Bacot was saddled with two fouls. That prompted the Tar Heels to switch Leaky Black onto Banchero. Bacot sat for five and a half minutes, during which Duke stretched the lead from 11-2 to 27-8. 

5. As you might have suspected, Duke is a bad matchup for this Carolina team. They proved it on Saturday, as Banchero was largely held in check, but AJ Griffin was completely unstoppable and finished with 27 points. The Blue Devils exploited whatever they felt was the best matchup on the court, and Carolina didn’t have enough stops to slow them down.

6. Those defensive struggles–Duke shot nearly 60 percent (!) for the game–eventually led Hubert Davis to switch to a zone midway through the second half. Nothing was slowing down Duke on this night.

7. Brady Manek had waited a long time to play in this game, and he played very well offensively, finishing with 21 points and hitting 6-for-10 from three-point range. The dropoff from Manek to the next most effective Tar Heel was a steep one. Armando Bacot had 12 points and RJ Davis scored 11. Davis and Caleb Love combined to go 7-for-21with five turnovers and six assists. Love is now 27-102 (26.5%) from the field in his last seven games.

8. Credit to a Smith Center crowd that desperately wanted to be in the game. They had zero to cheer for in the first segment of the first half, but stayed involved as Carolina slowly hacked away at the lead before halftime.

9. As you might have heard, it was Mike Krzyzewski’s last game in the Smith Center. After much was made earlier in the week by folks who didn’t have all the information they needed about Carolina not properly recognizing Krzyzewski, the Tar Heels did mention his final visit when he was announced in pregame. The two teams also coordinated a photo of Roy Williams, Krzyzewski, Hubert Davis and Jon Scheyer that was shown on the video board during Duke’s starting lineup. In other words, the recognition was perfectly appropriate without going overboard, which had been the plan all along.

10. A well-deserved moment of silence was held for longtime Carolina basketball staffer Linda Woods before the game. More on the impact of Woods, who passed away Thursday after a battle with cancer, is available here.

11. Governor Roy Cooper appeared at halftime for a ceremony announcing the naming of two separate stretches of Interstate 40. Exit 266-270 will be known as Roy Williams Highway, and…