If any of us out there doubted that God is a Tar Heel, we got more affirmation Saturday night at Duke’s devilish Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Whether Cormac Ryan, a Catholic competitor of the highest order, was sent down from New York City or just ordained himself to be here for a season, the sixth-year senior helped convince us that whoever we worship likes the lighter shade of blue. For this one game, Ryan sure looked like he found the holy grail of hoops.
“I love playing in hostile environments,” Ryan said after UNC’s 84-79 win to sweep Duke and win the outright ACC championship. “We didn’t want to share this title with anybody. I’m proud of us. They threw punches. They went on runs, but we battled back and stayed poised. And that’s what a mature veteran group does.”
In another life, Ryan had played in Cameron. As a sophomore at Notre Dame, he scored a season-high 28 points, shooting 10 of 16 from the floor that included four 3-pointers in a 93-89 upset of the Blue Devils.
Ryan returned there with a vengeance by making his first three long balls and finished with 6 of 8 plus two regular field goals and 9 crucial free throws — adding up to a career-high 31 points to bitterly disappoint a bandbox crowd of 9,314, including blue-painted students who had camped out for months to endure the Tar Heels’ sixth win in the last nine editions of the blue blood rivalry.
“I’m competitive. I’m fiery and just being able to show that mentality in games like this, it’s fun,” Ryan said on the Tar Heel Sports Network after winning on the biggest stage in college basketball on ESPN in national primetime.
“I just like to compete and it brings it out of all of us. You kind of have no other choice when you’re on the road like this, especially in this building. I love it. There’s nothing better than competing with your best friends.”
Ryan was certainly showing all that when he drained his first two shots from the deep right corner, screaming at the Cameron Crazies as he ran back down the court. On his third from the left wing off a steal by Elliot Cadeau that gave Carolina an early 11-point lead, Ryan held index finger to mouth and shushed the crowd.
Cormac Ryan is the seventh Tar Heel to score 30+ at Duke, joining Luke Maye, Billy Cunningham, Doug Moe, Michael Jordan, Hubert Davis and Lennie Rosenbluth.
Ryan's 31 are the most points by a Tar Heel at Cameron Indoor Stadium since Davis had 35 on 3/8/1992. pic.twitter.com/qOBvFc7gPF
— Carolina Basketball Stats & Info (@UNCMBBStats) March 10, 2024
“It’s always good to get off to a hot start and seeing the ball go through the rim like that,” he said. “It opened it up for our big guys and got me going in a good rhythm and I think it set the tone for our group, too. It helped us build a lead early and I don’t think we ever lost it.”
The Heels shot 50 percent in both halves for only the second time this season and never trailed. They led by as many as 15, then by 40-31 at the half, and survived a Duke rally that briefly cut the deficit to one point early in the second frame. A seven-point run on an old-fashioned three-point play by Armando Bacot, a put-back by Jae’Lyn Withers and a block by Bacot that turned into a Seth Trimble assist to Ryan’s snowbird grew the lead to 52-43 that survived another late run by the Blue Devils.
On his fourth flyer from the left wing, Ryan stuck out his best version of the Michael Jordan tongue. And on his last one with 98 seconds remaining that just about put the game away, Cormac was grinning like an altar boy after communion.
When the game ended, he joined his teammates in waving goodbye to the stunned Duke crowd that included long-faced retired coach Mike Krzyzewski, ruining both another Senior Day and the 100-year celebration of Duke basketball. The team bus stopped on Franklin Street and the players were mobbed by fans.
“One of our goals in the beginning of the year was to win the regular season,” Ryan said. “And so that’s one box we can check and winning it outright in this building is special. It’s something that we’ll never forget and we still have a lot more to be said and to be done like Coach Davis always says. But we planned to win this game and we didn’t come in here to lose. I wouldn’t tell you that anybody’s surprised; we’re happy, but we’re not surprised.”
Hubert Davis loved Ryan’s offensive explosion but also said he wasn’t surprised. The head coach predicted early in the season when Ryan started slowly, he would regain his shooting touch. Coach Davis acknowledged that R.J. Davis was held under double figures (9 points) for only the second time this season, but liked how UNC’s defense limited Duke to 30 points in the paint after giving up 54 in the first game.
“They competed, they fought,” Hubert said. “Everything we talk about that you have to bring in order to have a chance to win on this stage against a team like Duke. And they did it from the start. I am just so proud of them and so happy for them. I wanted this regular season championship by our ourselves for them. This is such a special group and I wanted them alone to be ACC Champions, and they are.”
North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis shouts towards the court during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Duke in Durham, N.C., Saturday, March. 9, 2024. (Photo via AP Photo/Ben McKeown.)
Beyond R.J. Davis’ sensational, ACC Player of the Year season, Hubert continues to praise his other players. Like Harrison Ingram (his 11th double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds, the 14th game in the last 19 he had 10 or more), who picked up for R.J. and Bacot as they combined for only 18 points. And Withers (8 rebounds and 6 points in 12 minutes). And Trimble’s 6 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals — plus determined defense in his 19 minutes, some replacing Cadeau whose foul trouble cost him to sit out large chunks of the game.
“Our start was really good,” Hubert said. “Not just making shots, we were sound defensively and we were always the first one on loose balls. We were the first ones getting any 50-50 balls. It was all UNC that ignited us and got us off to a good start.
“There’re just certain people who can play in this type of environment,” Davis continued. “Cormac has been here before, played against Duke. He’s been on the biggest stage and for him to step up like this on the road and [get] his career high is just amazing. I’m so happy, I’m so proud of him.”
Like most Carolina-Duke games, this one got chippy in the second half, especially when the Blue Devils’ leading scorer Kyle Filipowski appeared to stick a leg out and trip Ingram as they both hit the floor. Social media went crazy, calling Duke’s 7-footer “Flipper the Tripper” and other insulting nick names.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer repeated some of the same sentiment he had after Carolina’s 93-84 win at the Smith Center back in February.
“It hurts and it’s disappointing,” he said. “And as a team, senior night, we probably got caught up in some of that stuff… all well-intentioned, but we didn’t play like we’ve been playing. I told the team afterward it’d be one thing if we lost and we weren’t good enough or it’s something you can’t control.”
With their sixth straight win, the Tar Heels, 25-6 and 17-3 in the ACC, earned the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament this week in Washington, D.C., UNC’s first absolute regular-season triumph since 2017, the year of its last NCAA championship.
UNC will begin play Thursday at noon against the winner of Wednesday’s Virginia Tech vs. Florida State, two teams that Carolina went 3-0 against this season.
“We talked about things that we have to do to put ourselves in a position to win,” Hubert said. “We talked about defensively, we had to step up. That’s 20 games in a row that we’ve outrebounded our opponent. Wow. And those are things that are really important for us to get a really awesome win.”
Featured image via Associated Press/Ben McKeown
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