CHAPEL HILL -- Blowouts have become a customary event in this golden age of Duke basketball, but rarely have the Blue Devils been able to dominate the one team that has challenged them at every step.
Thursday night in Chapel Hill, however, the matchup that many believe represents the most competitive rivalry in college sports was transformed into the most lopsided loss for the home team on its Dean Smith Center floor, as Duke (19-1, 7-1 in the ACC) demolished the Tar Heels (6-12, 2-6) 87-58.
Paced by Mike Dunleavy's 23 points and Jason Williams' 18, including seven in a key run during the final two minutes of the first half, the Blue Devils entered the game taking their struggling neighbors seriously, and their focus paid off.
"When I was being recruited by both of these schools, I figured either way I went, these games would be close," Dunleavy said. "To win in the fashion that we did--that was surprising."
Taking a commanding, yet surmountable 48-35 lead into halftime, the Blue Devils mixed defensive precision and stellar offensive execution to halt any thoughts of a North Carolina upset.
Shooting 57 percent from the field, Duke dismantled a Tar Heel defense that surrendered only 69 points to Clemson five days ago. Even when the Blue Devils built a lead of over 20 points midway through the second stanza and went to a slowdown set, they baited the Tar Heels by holding the ball as the shot clock
And instead of becoming lackadaisical with its ever-growing lead, Duke's primary ballhandlers, Williams and sophomore Chris Duhon, valued every possession of the ball.
"Duhon probably played his best floor game," Krzyzewski said. "Our two guards had 14 assists and only one turnover. As many possessions as we had, that's a good stat."
But as efficient as Duke's offense was, its defense was even better. The Blue Devils forced 12 steals, held UNC's leading scorer Jason Capel to a mere eight points, and allowed only eight North Carolina field goals in the second half. Duke's defensive pressure was so stifling that the Tar Heels' turnover total (25) was greater than its overall number of field goals (22).
"In the second half, our defense was great," Krzyzewski said. "We had very active hands. There weren't the open looks. We gave a few open looks in the first half. We gave them three of them, and all three were knocked down for [three-pointers]."
Despite these few minor defensive breakdowns, Duke took control at the beginning of the contest, although the Tar Heels certainly came to fight. After 17 minutes of play, a large margin victory seemed attainable, but was hardly a foregone conclusion for the Blue Devils.
Buoyed by the tenacious offensive play of reserve Brian Morrison, who tallied
Sensing vulnerability in his opponents' eyes, Williams exploded as the half wound down, extending Duke's lead to as high as 15 points after penetrating for easy scores on successive possessions and nailing a three-pointer as the shot clock expired with 3.9 seconds left in the half.
A dunk by Morrison at the buzzer gave Tar Heel fans a glimmer of hope as the intermission ensued, but for all intents and purposes, Williams had deflated North Carolina's sails.
"I thought when we were able to get that double-digit lead, even though we gave up those two points before halftime, that was a big factor in the game," Krzyzewski said.
After shellacking the Tar Heels, the Blue Devils now will focus their attention on their upcoming road trip to Clemson's Littlejohn Coliseum, one of the ACC's most difficult venues. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels, as they have been forced to do on many occasions already this season, must learn from their embarrassing loss and apply these lessons in their game against a hot Georgia Tech team.
"The toughest thing now is that we have to move on," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said. "We have a quick turnaround; it is a tough schedule and we have a game at one o'clock on Saturday."
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