No. 20 Duke rallied from an eight-point deficit in the final seven minutes to upset No. 5 North Carolina 74-73 in Chapel Hill Wednesday night, giving the Blue Devils their third straight win against a ranked opponent. Duke trailed for the vast majority of the game and lost Matt Jones to an ankle injury in the first half, but the trio of Brandon Ingram, Grayson Allen and Luke Kennard played a major part in a comeback that left the crowd at the Dean E. Smith Center in stunned silence when the final buzzer sounded.
Revisiting the three keys to the game:
- Beat the bigs: The Tar Heels’ frontcourt was unstoppable to start the game, with Brice Johnson gobbling up every rebound that came his way and finishing around the basket with ease. The senior forward had 29 points and 19 boards in the contest as North Carolina outrebounded Duke 46-34, but Johnson was virtually invisible for the last 10 minutes of the game. The Tar Heels did not get much production at all from its other threats in the post—Kennedy Meeks, Isaiah Hicks and Joel James—and graduate student Marshall Plumlee held his own on the interior for Duke, tallying 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting to go along with seven rebounds.
- Take advantage of a suspect Tar Heel defense: North Carolina kept getting layups and second chance put-backs on its way to a 46-point first half, but Duke stayed within striking distance by finding the gaps in the Tar Heel defense and scoring 42 points of its own before the break. The Blue Devils started the game 3-of-6 on 3-pointers, and although they went cold down the stretch, they made enough pull-up jumpers and layups as they clamped down on defense to climb back into the game.
- Weather the early storm: North Carolina grabbed the early advantage and led for 36 minutes of the game, but Duke never let the deficit get to double digits. There were multiple points during the contest when it seemed like the Tar Heels were set to pull away, but Duke always responded with a big play, whether it was a 3-pointer from Luke Kennard, a driving layup by Brandon Ingram or a powerful finish by Marshall Plumlee. When North Carolina stopped feeding the ball into the post down the stretch, the Blue Devils were still in the game and made just enough stops to come away with the win.
Three key plays:
- 7:43 remaining, first half: Junior guard Matt Jones drove through the lane and misfired on a right-handed runner, badly rolling his left ankle as he landed on Johnson’s foot. While he was on the ground in pain, the Tar Heels went the other way and finished a transition opportunity with a dunk by Johnson to push their lead to six points. Jones missed the rest of the game with what Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski later confirmed was a sprained ankle.
- 2:39 remaining, second half: Allen was pressured by Justin Jackson and swung the ball to Ingram, who quickly found Kennard in the right corner. The freshman guard let the ball fly without hesitation as Joel Berry closed out on him, and the shot swished through the net to give Duke a 72-71 lead, its first advantage of the second half.
- 0:05 remaining, second half: After Allen missed a fade-away jumper, North Carolina had a chance to win with one last possession. Even as the transition opportunity broke down, head coach Roy Williams elected not to use one of his three remaining timeouts. Johnson only touched the ball for a fraction of a second on the possession and the ball ended up with Berry, who spun into the lane and had his shot blocked by freshman Derryck Thornton. Allen picked up the ball and tossed it high into the air to seal the Blue Devil victory.
Three key stats:
- Five Blue Devils play 186 of 200 possible minutes: Duke’s depth was already thin with Amile Jefferson still sidelined with a broken foot, and when Jones went down after playing just nine minutes, the Blue Devils only had five legitimate players in the rotation. Allen, Ingram, Kennard and Thornton all played the rest of the game after Jones got hurt, and Plumlee was spelled by freshman Chase Jeter for a short break before playing the final 11 minutes with four fouls, but even with no subs, these five had enough left in the tank to come back against a fresher Tar Heel team that played eight players double-digit minutes.
- North Carolina shoots just 1-of-13 on 3-pointers: Senior guard Marcus Paige missed all six of his attempts from beyond the arc, and the Tar Heels could never connect on a big shot to seize the momentum and create more separation. Thornton did not have a big day on offense—scoring just five points on 2-of-9 shooting—but his tenacious on-ball defending on the perimeter was invaluable for Duke.
- Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks combine for just 10 points: Brice Johnson gets most of the attention in North Carolina’s frontcourt, and for good reason, but the Tar Heels are widely considered a national title contender because of their frontcourt depth beyond him. Meeks and Hicks combine to average more than 20 points per game, but did not give Johnson any help in this contest and never stepped up in the closing minutes as Johnson faded down the stretch.
And the Duke game ball goes to… Brandon Ingram
Ingram posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and although he shot just 7-of-21 from the field, he took control and converted when the Blue Devils needed it most. With Duke facing its biggest deficit of the game at 68-60, the freshman forward scored on three straight possessions to cut the lead to two. Ingram played the whole game and led the team with four assists and two blocks in a gritty all-around performance.
And the North Carolina game ball goes to… Brice Johnson
The Blue Devils had no answer early on for Johnson, who had a double-double in the first half with 18 points and 11 rebounds. The Orangeburg, S.C., native picked up where he left off after the break and had 27 points and 17 boards with 12 minutes remaining, and when Plumlee reentered the contest with 11 minutes left and four fouls, it seemed like Johnson would continue to dominate against an opposing center that could not afford to foul out. Instead, the Tar Heels suddenly stopped attacking Plumlee at all, and Johnson only took one shot from the field for the rest of the game—a dunk that gave North Carolina its last two-possession lead at 70-66.
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