NEW YORK—Last week, Duke struggled to guard Isaiah Hicks in its loss to North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
This time, the Tar Heels' other senior big man is causing all sorts of problems for the Blue Devils.
Kennedy Meeks is dominating Duke in the post and has 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting to propel North Carolina to a 49-42 halftime lead in the first ACC tournament semifinal Friday night at the Barclays Center. Meeks scored 10 of the Tar Heels' first 12 points, more than the eight points he scored all of last Saturday, and North Carolina has racked up 32 paint points and 15 assists to build a comfortable cushion.
Grayson Allen came off the bench for Duke and knocked down four 3-pointers to score 12 points, but the Blue Devils have received little production outside of Allen and Jayson Tatum, who leads the team with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Tatum scored nine points late in the half to pull his team back within seven thanks to a 7-1 spurt, and has picked up right where he left off Thursday against Louisville.
The Tar Heels jumped on Duke early, making them pay for fronting Meeks in the post by lofting three early entry passes for easy layups. Swingmen Theo Pinson and Justin Jackson have already combined for 10 assists so far, and their team is shooting 55.6 percent from the field.
After the Blue Devils scored five straight points to trim the deficit to 10-9, a hook shot in the paint by Meeks sparked a quick 9-2 run for North Carolina, which pushed the pace in transition against a team that already looks exhausted in its third game in three days.
Point guard Joel Berry II got to the rim for two layups sandwiched around a lackadaisical pass by Tatum that resulted in a steal and breakaway layup for Justin Jackson.
Three consecutive triples by Allen got Duke back into it, but Hicks and Tony Bradley continued North Carolina's onslaught in the post to keep their team in front.
North Carolina rattled off a 10-1 run after Allen's third 3-pointer to build a double-digit lead and never let Duke pull closer than six points the rest of the way, but Tatum's burst toward the end of the period brought the Blue Devils within striking distance.
Here are some observations from the first half:
- For the third straight game, Luke Kennard had a quiet first half with five points on 0-of-2 shooting and five free throws. He will need to have another big second half for the Blue Devils to have a chance in this one.
- Duke switched to a zone defense about midway through the first half to keep the Tar Heels out of the paint, as it did in the quarterfinals against Louisville, and got two straight stops on missed jump shots. But North Carolina's Nate Britt knocked down a big triple and the Tar Heels continued finding their posts in transition before the Blue Devils had a chance to set up the defense.
- Marques Bolden made a brief cameo on the floor to try to counter North Carolina's size, but picked up two fouls in less than 30 seconds and was ineffective against the Tar Heel frontcourt.
- Frank Jackson is playing one of his worst games of the year with no points on 0-for-5 shooting, including one ugly airball from the corner.
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