How dare Tom Izzo say that Michigan vs Michigan St can compare or even compete with this game?
Despite a hot Cam Johnson in the first half, UNC couldn’t stop a monstrous Zion Williamson who not only dominated the boards but took to the perimeter and shot some 3’s. Williamson was one of three players in double figures (RJ Barrett, 15 and Tre Jones, 11) but the only player with a double-double (31 and 11). Analysts are saying “Zion’s back” and that he’s officially put the team back on his back.
But what was it about Duke that completely shut down UNC around the perimeter?
I mean, if you go 4- 27 guys you deserve to be beat. I mean, come on, let’s be honest about the whole thing. Our great teams or this team when they have played their best games has either been one of two things, we really shot the ball well or we had good balance. At Duke we played them and yes it was without Zion, Luke Maye spins around to lay the ball up, and I think that was when it was we either one down or one up and Zion blocked the shot. But you still got to play
With all the hype surrounding UNC vs Duke, one would think that there’s some relief that the series is over but Cam Johnson sees no relief in losing and really wanted this game,
No, never. There’s no relief when you lose a game. And this was one that we wanted to win, this is one that we thought we should win, this is one we could have won. So there’s no relief there, there’s no relief this is over. This game is important to us and it will hurt for a little bit, but we just got to refocus and then move on and get ready for what’s next.
Despite their win, Coach K had to coach his guys back from a 13 point loss. During halftime, he said not too much was said regarding energizing them, but playing long and smart.
Yeah, I don’t know it’s anything we said. It’s a long game, and they’re going to play fast and we’ll play fairly fast, not as fast as them, and we just needed some stops. Cameron Johnson came out so hot and he’s such a terrific player. And I thought J- Gold did a great job on him. But our bench really helped us. Our bench really helped us. They gave us J-Gold especially, and Antonio, who, he didn’t, I’m sure he didn’t think he was going to play tonight, but he did and he played very well. And both those kids gave energy and maybe that’s one of the reasons RJ and Zion weren’t as tired, because they were instead of giving energy to a teammate, they were getting energy from a teammate.
Regardless of what it was, it got Duke their much-coveted win over UNC. Duke goes on to face Florida State tomorrow at 8:30 pm for the ACC Championship game.
