Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Duke beats UNC by 10 as the ball clanks

That certainly wasn't the prettiest Duke-UNC game you'll ever see. Get this: Duke was 3-for-28 from two-point range in the first half and still led by a point, 28-27. The Blue Devils ended up winning, 64-54.

Both sides shot badly, defended passionately and it ended up about like you thought it would, with Duke winning by 10. The game was lower-scoring than I expected, though -- the outcome reminded me of when Matt Doherty in desperation played a slowdown offense against Duke in the 2002 ACC tournament. It kept the game closer but failed to change the outcome (Duke won, 60-48).


But Roy Williams wasn't trying to slow it down -- his team just doesn't score well from the half-court offense. Mike Krzyzewski's didn't either for a large part of the game, but then Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler took over late and the Blue Devils (8-2 ACC) maintained their conference lead. UNC (2-7 in the ACC) remains in 11th place.

I was in Chapel Hill for this one and thought the Tar Heels played harder than usual, with more fight than they've shown for much of the season. That's kind of a damning statement, isn't it? But a true one. That's the sort of intensity that they always need.

Check out www.CharlotteObserver.com for more coverage of the game.

3 comments:

Cedar Posts said...

Duke played poorly the Heels poorer still. The best part of the game was watching Tommy Tomlimson and Heather Childers tweet the game.

The play by play at Cedar Posts this AM.

As for Carolina well At least we have football.

Anonymous said...

Instead of Haiti, Ol Roy will now compare this to Hiroshima.

Anonymous said...

..and then, when they lose in the play-in game of the ACC tournament and do not receive a bit to the NIT, it'll be compared to the apocalypse!