No. 1 Duke used a 15-0 run in the first half to deal an early haymaker to UNC in the ACC Tournament semifinals Friday night in Charlotte, and the Blue Devils held off a desperate second-half run from the Tar Heels to win a 74-71 thriller.
Duke’s first-half run ballooned a 30-24 Duke lead into a 45-24 edge at halftime, UNC’s largest deficit at the half since its first matchup with Duke in Durham. No Tar Heel scored more than eight points in the half, and UNC shot just 10-28 (35.7 percent) while turning the ball over seven times. The Blue Devils pounced on the mistakes, scoring 10 points off those turnovers while building the lead.
In the second half, UNC valiantly fought back. The Tar Heels trailed by as many as 24 points at 52-28, but rattled off nine straight points to close the gap to 52-37 at the 13:54 mark. By the 6:17 mark, the deficit was at 10. Slowly but surely, it crept into single digits as the clock ticked down.
“I’m super, super proud of the fight that we had in the second half,” said Seth Trimble, who scored 12 of his 14 points after halftime. “I’m super, super proud of how we got battle-tested and we responded.”
Five straight points from Trimble closed the deficit to 70-66 with 3:41 remaining. After a jumper from Duke’s Tyrese Proctor pushed the Blue Devil lead back to six points, a layup from Cadeau and three more free throws from Trimble and Drake Powell brought the score to 72-71 in the final seconds. Notably, Powell missed one of his two attempts with 1:52 remaining – just one of eight missed free throws for UNC on the night.
It was a Duke missed free throw which gave the Tar Heels a shot at an improbable win. Proctor missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, and UNC got the rebound and called timeout with 17 seconds to go. After the stoppage, the ball found its way to Ven-Allen Lubin in the post, where he drew the fifth foul on Duke’s Khaman Maluach. Lubin, who to that point was 4-4 at the free-throw line, stepped up for two potential go-ahead shots.
He missed the first and made the second to tie the game – only for the second shot to be waved off. Teammate Jae’Lyn Withers had committed a lane violation, negating the tying point. Duke got the ball back and Kon Knueppel made two free throws to make the score 74-71. With two seconds left, UNC desperately tried to inbound the ball to R.J. Davis, but instead had to pass to Lubin. His desperation three – which would have been his first make all season – missed as time expired.
A despondent Withers covered his face with his jersey and a towel in the handshake line. The Louisville transfer, who made seven threes in UNC’s second-round game against Notre Dame, finished the night with two points in 20 minutes.
“I mistimed the shot,” Withers said of his lane violation. “I was trying to make sure I crashed hard to secure the rebound in case he did miss.”
“We’re not here without J-Wit,” said Hubert Davis, who stood arm-in-arm with Withers in the Spectrum Center hallway during Withers’ media availability. “The run that we made over the last month-and-a-half… you can directly point toward J-Wit.”
Lubin finished as the night’s leading scorer with 20 points. He added 10 rebounds to secure his fourth double-double in five games and third straight in the ACC Tournament. He’s only the fifth Tar Heel ever to post three double-doubles in a single ACC Tournament, joining Armando Bacot (2024), John Henson (2011), Mitch Kupchak (1975) and Rusty Clark (1968).
The loss drops UNC to 22-13 overall. This is the first time Duke has beaten UNC three times in one season since 2002. The Tar Heels will learn if they received a bid to the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday. The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for 6 p.m.
“I played four years here, 12 years in the NBA, [coached] nine years as an assistant and now four years as a head coach,” said Hubert Davis afterward. “And I can’t be more proud of a team than I am right now.”
“We’re playing next week,” Trimble said. “Let’s get ready for that. Quick turnaround. We don’t know where we’re playing or who, but we’re playing next week.”
Featured image via Todd Melet. For a full photo gallery of the game, click here.
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