A career-high 31 points from Cormac Ryan – including the game-sealing free throws in the final seconds – led Carolina past No. 9 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, 84-79, on Saturday night. With the win, the Tar Heels not only secure a season sweep of the Blue Devils, but also clinch the outright ACC regular-season title for the first time since 2017 and the No. 1 seed at the ACC Tournament.
𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐍.#CarolinaFamily | @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/xeQUAe1j8J
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) March 10, 2024
Harrison Ingram posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. It’s the 17th consecutive game Ingram has posted at least 10 points, at least 10 rebounds or both. But the biggest shot of the game didn’t come from either Ryan or Ingram. Elliot Cadeau banged in a long jumper as the shot clock expired in the final minute to give Carolina an 80-72 lead, one that held up despite a late Blue Devil rally. Duke never led in the game.
UNC erupted in the opening minutes of the game, racing out to a 15-point lead inside of eight minutes. Ryan hit three three-pointers in rapid succession to put him on the road to his big night, including two from nearly the exact same spot on the floor in a 16-second span. Carolina led 30-15 with 8:04 remaining in the game, but Duke gained momentum as the game neared halftime, slicing the lead to as little as seven points. The Tar Heels led 40-31 at the half.
Duke stars Kyle Filipowski and Jeremy Roach nearly brought the Blue Devils all the way back early in the second half, opening on an 11-3 run. Duke had a shot to potentially take the lead with the score at 43-42, but a miss at the rim from Roach gave the ball back to UNC. Ryan made two free throws on the next Tar Heel possession, kicking off a 9-1 Carolina run which pushed the lead back to nine. It grew to as large as 12 points at 65-53 before Duke began its final push.
Consecutive threes from Ryan late in the second half appeared to be daggers, but the Blue Devils kept pace with threes from Filipowski and T.J. Power. Power’s shot made the score 78-72 with 1:13 to go, setting the stage for Cadeau’s buzzer-beating heave. Ryan ended the night at the free throw line to drop in the final four of his 31 points. He finished 8-12 from the floor, 6-8 on threes and 9-10 on free throws. The last Tar Heel to make six threes on the road against Duke is Ryan’s head coach: Hubert Davis.
As a team, the Tar Heels shot an identical 50 percent in both the first and second halves. Duke finished 26-60 (43.3 percent) from the floor.
Though only Ingram registered more than 10 rebounds, Carolina easily controlled the glass with a 39-28 rebounding advantage. The Tar Heels’ 12-8 offensive rebounding advantage led to a 12-10 edge in second-chance points. UNC doubled up the Blue Devils, 14-7, in bench points, with 12 of that coming from Seth Trimble and Jae’Lyn Withers. Withers tipped in a missed shot at the first-half buzzer to give UNC its nine-point halftime advantage.
The Tar Heels end the regular season 25-6 overall and 17-3 in ACC play. They will now look ahead to the conference tournament, which starts next week in Washington, D.C. As the top seed, Carolina will play in the quarterfinals at noon on Thursday.
Featured image via Associated Press/Ben McKeown
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Nice way to end the season, sweep dook, outright ACC championship. Couple it with Tennessee losing today and Carolina owning a victory over them, it should propel us to a #1 NCAA seed.
Big plays all night long and I love the Elliot was able to put in that clutch shot to effectively seal the game.