Early on, it looked as if the Tar Heels were ready to run the Blue Devils right out of their own home.
But Duke has fought back and kept it close against its rival as it guns for a double-bye in next week's ACC tournament.
No. 17 North Carolina jumped out to a 20-9 advantage and leads 40-32 at halftime against No. 17 Duke Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils have had a lot of trouble dealing with the Tar Heel frontcourt, as Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks have combined for 18 points and 16 rebounds.
North Carolina came out firing from the opening tip, crashing the glass for offensive rebounds and ensuing second-chance buckets on each of its first two possessions. The Tar Heels quickly opened up a 6-0 lead within the game’s first two minutes, but Grayson Allen got on the scoreboard for Duke with a tough fall-away runner in the lane.
Allen scored the Blue Devils’ first five points and leads the team with 12 points heading into the locker room. Freshman Luke Kennard came off the bench and provided a big offensive spark as well, finishing the half with 10 points.
Duke seemingly had no answer for North Carolina’s offense, which moved the ball around well and generated several easy looks inside. After a Marshall Plumlee layup brought the score to within three, the Tar Heels scored on four straight possessions to open up a 20-9 lead.
But Kennard responded, connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers to help cut the score to 24-19. The Franklin, Ohio, native picked up a steal on the next possession but misfired on another 3-point attempt that would have brought Duke to within two.
Then it was Matt Jones’ turn to get in on the action, as the junior captain splashed home a corner 3-pointer to make the score 25-22. Freshman Derryck Thornton hit another big triple for the Blue Devils that gave the team a chance to take the lead on their next possession. North Carolina, however, responded with a 9-3 run to increase the margin again.
Here are some other observations from the first half:
- The Tar Heels had the early advantage on the glass, grabbing the game’s first five rebounds and outrebounding Duke 30-10 in the first half. In the team’s first meeting, the Blue Devils pulled down just 34 boards, compared to 46 for North Carolina.
- Meeks scored the first bucket of the game for North Carolina, and Duke trailed for the rest of the half.
- Duke opened just 1-of-7 from the floor and shot 38 percent for the half. The team shot just 29 percent in the first half of Tuesday’s win against Wake Forest, but bounced back to shoot 46 percent in the second half versus the Demon Deacons.
- The Tar Heels chose to guard Brandon Ingram with Justin Jackson at the outset, but Ingram drew the defensive assignment of marking Brice Johnson for the Blue Devils.
- Ingram picked up his second foul with more than 11 minutes left in the half, and was forced to the bench. The freshman finished without a point in the period on just one field goal attempt.
- After Ingram went to the bench, Duke switched to a 2-3 zone defense instead of the man-to-man scheme it had been playing.
- Tar Heel senior Marcus Paige shot just 2-of-10 in the team’s first meeting, and the point guard is not having much more success Saturday. Paige finished the half with five points on 2-of-6 shooting.
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