In a sloppy game featuring missed opportunities and even more missed shots, the UNC men’s basketball team fell to Duke 63-57 in Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday night.

The Tar Heels shot just 24-70 from the field (34.3 percent), yet were in the thick of things until the bitter end due to similarly poor shooting from the Blue Devils: 24-61 (39.3 percent). The game was tied at 57 with less than two minutes left, but the Tar Heels missed their final five shots from the floor as the Blue Devils pulled ahead for good.

Four Tar Heels scored in double figures, including Leaky Black, who registered his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Armando Bacot also registered one with 14 points and 10 boards, but life in the post was made arduous due to the presence of Duke’s Dereck Lively, who scored just four points but grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked eight shots. That’s the most blocks any Duke player has ever had against Carolina. A thunderous putback dunk from Lively gave the Blue Devils the lead with 1:35 remaining.

Graduate forward Pete Nance had perhaps his worst game as a Tar Heel, scoring just two points on 1-10 shooting, including 0-5 on three-pointers. Those misses include one with 3:35 remaining with the game tied.

Duke dominated on fast-break points, scoring 20 to just two for Carolina. They also won the rebounding battle 46-40, including a key offensive board with less than a minute remaining which led to a layup from Jeremy Roach. That put Duke up by four points and essentially sealed the game. Roach finished with a game-high 20 points.

For the Tar Heels, it’s their second consecutive loss (their first consecutive losses since their four-game losing streak during the holidays) and it drops them to 15-8 overall and 7-5 in ACC play. The team is now closer to the middle of the pack in the ACC than the top four, and faces a tough road if it wants a coveted double-bye in next month’s ACC Tournament. It doesn’t get any easier from here: up next is a road trip to Wake Forest, a place the Tar Heels haven’t won since 2019. League title contenders Clemson and Miami visit Chapel Hill after that.

 

Featured image via The Daily Tar Heel/Samantha Lewis

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