I said it was going to be hard to top the greatness of the first game and North Carolina made sure I was right. From the onset of the game North Carolina came out aggressive and hell bent on making everyone forget about the first game won by Duke on a last second shot. I'd say with their 88-70 win that they did that at least for the short term.
As painful as it is for us Duke fans you have to tip your cap to North Carolina. They played a whale of a game and deserved to win.
The Tar Heels came out on fire, and Duke, well they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the first half and as a result trailed by 24 at the break.
Early on in the second it looked like the Blue Devils might make another run, but they couldn't sustain it and couldn't get stops when they needed it. Duke made it interesting late but failed to capitalize on a few chances to cut the lead under 10 with about four minutes left.
And North Carolina kept scoring and kept Duke at more than an arms length.
Not all was as bad as it seemed for Duke. The play of both Miles and Mason Plumlee was encouraging, granted it is the last regular season game of the year.
Miles went out with a solid senior night performance recording a double double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Mason had 17 points and that kind of contribution down the road, if it can be consistent can make a difference.
Still Duke allowed themselves to get in a big hole early and with some of its key secondary players such as Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins doing absolutely nothing it was destined to be a long night for Duke.
In my keys to the game I felt Duke needed to keep close in certain statistical categories such as rebounding. Well they got out rebounded 42 to 22. North Carolina shot 54.5 percent from the floor and made four three point shots.
In the first game they only made one three pointer. Duke on the other hand shot 41.3 percent from the floor but only made six three pointers compared to 14 in the first game.
Tyler Zeller again paced the Tar Heels with 19 points and 10 rebounds. But Kendall Marshall's 20 points and 10 assists as well as a strong second half from John Henson (13 points 10 rebounds) made a big difference.
I had said that Duke needed to make Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall beat them and the Blue Devils defense allowed that. All of North Carolina's starters scored in double figures compared to Duke who only had four players total in double figures.
With the win the Tar Heels go on to win the ACC Regular Season Championship for the second straight year (excuse me while I overcome the nausea I incurred by typing that.)
For the Blue Devils they have to move on and accept the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament, something they have dominated over the past decade.
Duke nearly a week to recover from the disappointment and learn from what they didn't do right Saturday night. And in a strange sense of irony they will not be playing another game in Cameron Indoor Stadium a place they never really played as well this season.
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