HALFTIME: Duke 37, North Carolina 30

No. 5 Duke found itself in an early 6-0 hole against rival North Carolina at the Dean E. Smith Center, but recovered quickly and took a 37-30 lead into intermission. The slow start was mostly due to self-inflicted wounds, as the Blue Devils committed four early turnovers before beginning to assert themselves offensively. A Rodney Hood alley-oop on a set play out of a timeout was the first of four straight Blue Devil possessions culminating in points. The redshirt sophomore had a lot to do with the run, pouring in 11 first-half points. After building a six-point lead of their own at 16-10, Duke was unable to make it stick, as a layup by Leslie McDonald put the Tar Heels back in front 20-18 with just over eight minutes remaining.

In his first game against North Carolina, freshman Jabari Parker took a little longer to get in a rhythm, finishing the first half with 10 points after finding some high-percentage shots late in the half. Leading scorer Marcus Paige struggled for the Tar Heels as well, as the sophomore was held scoreless.

Observations from the first half:

• Duke got off to a sluggish start, opening the game with four turnovers before finding the scoring column.
• In last season's game in Chapel Hill, Duke scored the first 14 points en route to a 69-53 victory, but found itself on the wrong side of a 6-0 deficit Thursday night.
• The Tar Heels were sloppy in their own right, committing nine first-half give-aways, including three by Paige. A notoriously bad free-throw shooting team, North Carolina missed seven of its first eight foul shots before ending the half with six straight makes.
• Senior Leslie McDonald carried North Carolina offensively in the opening frame, scoring 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
• Eleven of Hood's points came before the 12:07 mark, when he picked up his second foul and was sent to the bench. Hood was in foul trouble all game long against Maryland, playing just 22 minutes. Tar Heel forward Brice Johnson and Blue Devil Amile Jefferson each picked up three fouls in the first half.
• The Blue Devils broke out the black road jerseys for Thursday's game, the first time Duke has worn them since a Jan. 4 loss at Notre Dame.