Over the next three weeks, The Blue Zone will be counting down the top five performances from each of Duke’s graduating seniors during their collegiate careers. This week, we continue with guard Seth Curry.
No. 5: Curry leads comeback against North Carolina
The date: February 9, 2011
The game: Duke 79, North Carolina 73
Curry statline: Curry tallied 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers, to help No. 5 Duke erase a 16-point deficit and come back to defeat No. 21 North Carolina at Cameron Indoor, 79-73. The sophomore also added six rebounds and five assists in 35 minutes of action.
The breakdown: While Nolan Smith, with 34 points on 13-of-23 shooting, will be remembered as the hero of this game, Curry put on a shooting clinic of his own in his first-career game against the Tar Heels.
Trailing by 14 at halftime, Duke came out with renewed vigor in the second half, and used an early scoring spree to get back in the game. Curry knocked down his first triple of the game to cut the Tar Heel lead to six.
North Carolina briefly stole back momentum, reclaiming a 10 point advantage with 15:50 remaining. But Curry asserted himself with a mini run of his own, scoring seven consecutive points in 66 seconds to tie the game at 54-54.
After Duke took its first lead of the second half on a Ryan Kelley 3-pointer, Curry helped hold off the Tar Heels and stretch the Blue Devil advantage, this time as a distributor. He grabbed a rebound, came down the floor, and fed Smith for a layup, then found Smith again for a jumper, putting Duke up 62-59.
In the game’s final minutes, Curry hit four of five free throws to ice the game for the Blue Devils in one of the all-time Duke-UNC classics.
The quote: “At times during the season I do stand around and watch Nolan and Kyle [Singler],” Curry said. “But coming into tonight, I knew I had to be another punch out there for us.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.