Forgive me fans, for I have sinned, I am a few days late on my editorial for UNC vs Duke, but in all fairness, I didn’t know how to compute this loss by UNC.
As said by every person in America, “UNC, WHAT THE FREAK HAPPENED?”
This game is by far one of the most heated rivalries in all of sports. Being born in NC, it’s almost part of your birth certificate; your allegiance starts day one. UNC and Duke are barely 20 minutes apart. Both institutions and sports programs are highly regarded and two of the best schools to attend in the country, but could one ever imagine that this rivalry be this big? To take a country by storm and pause the sports world for 3 hours of aggressive and even exhausting basketball? I don’t think so.
Going into this game,
I have seen a million and one posts on how UNC can beat Duke; after all, we are all aware Duke is in a “rebuilding” stage, and I honestly, don’t think many are expecting much from this team despite superstar Brandon Ingram, and arguably a growing star, Grayson Allen. The team is without depth and with the loss of Amil Jefferson, not even Coach K himself can look at you without saying “yea, we got a problem”. But when you have a coach like K, he’ll bring out the best in any player, at any moment.
Before we dive deep into this game and call for Coach Roy’s head, can we all agree this game was weirdly long and exhausting? There wasn’t one moment this game didn’t have you on your feet. 21,750 were in attendance and trust me, the Dean Dome never had a quiet moment or even a fan in their seat; You committed to standing the entire game or else you wouldn’t see a thing.
Since Im a tad late on joining in the masses of “WTF happened UNC?” Im going to save you much of the analytics and tell you the scenes, feelings and moments leading up to UNC’s fall.
This game belonged to UNC. Simple. Not once should Duke have led or even be within a 10 point range of UNC, but alas, UNC’s lead never hit double digits only 8, and Duke? well, their biggest lead was only 2. So what happened? How did a tired, exhausted and even overworked Duke team beat UNC? Simple, great coaching by K, relentless effort, and incredible defense down the stretch.
Duke beat UNC with only 5 players. Yes, only 5 Duke players scored Wednesday night, and most of them playing well over 30 minutes. This not only proves Duke has no bench and relies heavily on their starting 5, but it displays how a well coached team can do the impossible with even one of their most important players in foul trouble, Marshall Plumlee. How the heck did Coach K do it? He doesn’t even credit himself, he speaks of the relentless of this team; this young team.
“These kids have gotten so close,” Krzyzewski said. “They’ve done an incredible job. At one time we had four freshmen and a sophomore out there. To have the toughness that they displayed with that youth is incredible.”
“Well hanging on means you’re winning or it could be. I think hanging in there is more – we hung in there. We just hung in there, and we started going kind of exclusively to Brandon [Ingram] and Grayson and some [isolations]. Luke [Kennard]’s three was huge. It was just huge, and this time Grayson hit the two free throws. That was pretty good, and we made some winning plays. I mean they’re really good, and we were fortunate to win, but we were fortunate to win because we hung in there.”
Coach K goes on to speak of young Brandon Ingram and his leadership, saying,
“There’s a lot of pressure on him, not just here. He’s 18, and he’s not ready to be who he will be. He’s pretty darn good. He’s also good enough not to let not hitting affect him. There’s a toughness element with that, you know like, ‘it’s not going to be my night – no, I’m going to work through it,’ but he really gave us a stretch there that was incredible.”
Let it be noted that Ingram played the entire 40 minute game, but when it really came down to needing help, Coach K credits Like Kennard who hit a big three with 2:39 to go giving Duke their second lead of the night at 72-71 and eventually pushing them to win the game. Duke’s offense down the stretch started driving the ball and opened the court which in turn UNC’s back court couldn’t seem to defend. Duke forced UNC to result to jumpsuits instead of feeding the hot hand of the night, Brice Johnson. Brice didn’t touch the ball for 8 mins in the 2nd quarter, something that left many fans perplexed.
But was this entirely Coach Roy Williams fault? I don’t think so. Let me explain. Agreeable, Coach Williams has his flaws, he has a lapse of moments where he forgets that timeouts exist, but I believe the last 2:39 mins of this game were bigger than a missed timeout. The ball wasn’t fed inside. That was the consistent key for a Carolina win, feeding the inside and their ability to rebound. Marcus Paige was also notably quiet, but his missed shots weren’t. No one will ever know if those plays were drawn up for Paige, but there was no reason for his forced shots. Paige was 2-10, 0-6 from the 3pt, and played 35 minutes, this was not Paige’s best night, but it seems that he tried to get the hot hand going, but just wasn’t capable of coming through for his team despite his best efforts. I believe that Coach Williams took the heat for most of his teams mistakes as any coach would, but at what point do we look at this “experienced” team and expect them to know when to pull together and play the hot hand?
Through out the game, you see a well oiled, effective UNC that just seemed to crumble in the hands of Duke the last 12 minutes. This not only boils down to coaching, but also well machined Duke team that can work tirelessly for 40 mins. This game also reflects most of UNC’s current season. They come out strong and responsive with big leads, only to lose them in the last minutes and have to work even harder to maintain it. UNC shows sparks of that no.1 preseason team, but fails to show their consistency.
For UNC Fans, this is what you take away:
- Find Marcus Paige and tell him UNC needs him back
- UNC has to find that killer instinct and consistency. Or if we want to be super emotional, their heart to fight to the end
- Find out what the heck Coach Williams is going to do with Kennedy Meeks. Meeks hasn’t been played to his full potential since being back.
- Backcourt needs to learn defense. ASAP.
- I have been saying this all year, Brice Johnson is your star. This is who the offense needs to run through with the help of Joel Berry II. Berry and Johnson have shown they’re capable of leading this team. Its time we embrace it and let them.
- Let Coach Williams know its time to adapt and make adjustable changes. Do we need to add timeouts too?
But lets not be too hard on Coach Williams. His love for this program and these kids was felt in his postgame with only apologetic words and what seemed to be tearful eyes.
“Heck of a basketball game if you’re a Duke fan or if you really care who run, but I don’t fit in that category. It hurts right now – extremely.”
And when asked, he said that he could only respond to his team by apologizing.
“I told them I was sorry, that I should have gotten us a better shot at the end.”
Duke fans there is no consoling you. Your team played a heck of a basketball game. With Coach K running NBA style ball and allowing this team to play the strengths of Ingram and Allen, you couldn’t ask for better strategy and adaptation. I think you guys are covered. Not much you can do with a depleted bench and an absent Amil Jefferson. Just keep Ingram healthy.
Overall, what we all can agree on, no matter where on Tobacco Road you stand, this game was one for the books. This one photo explains it all, from a UNC and Duke fan perspective. Rasheed Wallace was sick!
Until March 5th.