After Duke defeated UNC Thursday night, The Chronicle caught up with students at the celebratory bonfire about their thoughts on the game:
“First Duke game and it was amazing. It was my first time watching a full basketball game. Honestly, I’m not into sports very much, but I’m really glad to be a part of Duke’s culture now. Go Duke!”—first-year Ivan Robles
“It’s nice to see that Coach K has returned to see a winning Duke team again.”—sophomore James Hwang
“The sophomores have been waiting for this moment—the bench burning—for so long. It’s amazing.”—sophomore Brittany Day
“I was only watching live updates from the library, but I felt like I was there the whole time.”—sophomore Jacob Baca
“It was awesome. Go Duke!”—junior Breanna Polascik
“Joel Berry II got what he deserved. I’m very happy because he had to be taken down.”—first-year Maram Elnagheeb
“I’m so happy that we won. This is like a dream come true because I love seeing us burn benches.”—junior Rachel Thompson
“Duke is the best. I come from halfway across the globe. I come from f**king West Africa, and Duke is still the f**king best of it’s kind. Duke is still the best to exist. I’m sorry, but UNC tries but it can’t be as good as us. Duke is the epitome of the world. UNC can’t experience the beauty that is good.”—senior Sanmi Oyenuga
“We are immortal right now. In this moment, we are all immortal.”—sophomore Preston Huang
“I didn’t see any benches burn last year. And it such a let down... It was terrible. This feeling is just so cool, being out here, seeing the flames, freaking out.”—sophomore Spencer Flynn
Editor's note: The Chronicle corrected a prior misspelling of Joel Berry II's name.
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Class of 2019
Editor-in-chief 2017-18,
Local and national news department head 2016-17
Born in Hyderabad, India, Likhitha Butchireddygari moved to Baltimore at a young age. She is pursuing a Program II major entitled "Digital Democracy and Data" about the future of the American democracy.