Duke beats Carolina at Home

If you live in North Carolina and follow sports, There is no bigger game than the Duke/Carolina game. The ACC has been the best conference in college basketball for as long as I can remember and Duke and North Carolina are its flagship teams. The 2 teams met again last nite as Duke won 64-54.

Duke was led by John Scheyer who had 24 points (5-9 from 3pt range). Kyle Singler added 19 pts and 9 reb in a lowing scoring, defensive battle to outlast the Tar heels. Duke went into half with a 1 point lead but should have easily been up double digits with several dropped passes and missed layups at point blank range. In the 2nd half things began to pick up and Carolina was able to get in to transition and get easy buckets. They took a 4 point lead midway through the half but could not hold on as Duke clamped down defensively to take the lead and never look back.

Scheyer was a constant. He hit some huge shots in the 2nd half and seemed to make all the big plays down the stretch. He is having a monster year. If Duke wins the regular season championship I see Scheyer being the conference player of the year. Nolan Smith made great contributions in the 2nd half also scoring all 10 of his points after intermission. North Carolina was led by Will Graves who scored 13 points.

Duke is in 1st place and 8-2 in the ACC. North Carolina is in 11th place with a 2-7 record in conference play. Carolina is in danger of missing the NCAA tournament after winning the National Championship the year before. Regardless of either teams record when Duke and Carolina get together it will always be a great game because of the rivalry. Carolina has dominated the game over the last 3 years. I have a funny feeling that is all about to change.

RP