With Michael Jordan back in town to announce a partnership between his Jordan Brand and the UNC football team, the greatest basketball player of all time told fans gathered at the Dean Dome that, “The ceiling is the roof,” for Tar Heel sports moving forward.

Although the statement technically didn’t mean anything, everyone in the arena roared with approval.

Jordan’s appearance added another level of intensity to an already electric atmosphere in Chapel Hill on Saturday–as the fifth-ranked Tar Heels used 28 points from point guard Joel Berry to defeat the No. 17 Duke Blue Devils 90-83 on Senior Night.

Berry scored 19 of those points in the first half, while nailing all five of his three-point attempts in the process.

Senior forward Isaiah Hicks stayed out of foul trouble, and ended up scoring 21 points and grabbing a game-high nine rebounds against Duke–in what was his final game at the Dean Dome. (Todd Melet)

He then put together a run of seven consecutive points during the final four minutes that helped UNC get over the hump in crunch time–something it has failed to do with consistency against Duke in recent matchups.

Senior forward Isaiah Hicks also came up huge for head coach Roy Williams during his final game in the Smith Center–avoiding his trademark foul trouble on the way to a 21-point, nine-rebound performance. This also came after Hicks missed UNC’s previous loss to Duke in February with a hamstring injury.

“It’s a tremendous mental booster, I would say, going into the tournaments and stuff–seeing what I’m capable of, if I actually stay in the game, not watching the game from the bench,” Hicks told reporters afterward. “Last game at [Virginia], y’all saw how bad teammates get on me for fouling–making stupid fouls and things like that.”

Duke sophomore guard Luke Kennard led the visitors with 28 points of his own, as he consistently found ways to make shots with hands in his face–no matter who was defending him.

The teams combined for an incredible 23 lead changes and 14 ties, with UNC’s final victory margin of seven points being the largest lead either team held all game long.

For every creative coaching ploy or incredible shot this game provided, the other team always seemed to have an answer on the other end.

Luke Kennard–the ACC Player of the Year frontrunner–scored 28 points for Duke in the game. (Todd Melet)

During his postgame press conference, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski struggled to point out any weaknesses from either side.

“I thought it was a possession by possession game,” Krzyzewski said. “I don’t think there’s a pivotal point or strategy. They made a couple more plays than we did.”

Duke–and, most notably, senior guard Matt Jones–did a terrific job limiting UNC’s leading scorer, Justin Jackson, to 15 points on 17 shots.

Meanwhile, the Tar Heels were able to win the rebounding battle this time around–and hold the Blue Devils to just six made three-pointers instead of the 13 they tallied back in February.

As many probably could have predicted entering the night–considering the nature of this rivalry–all that truly mattered was who made the plays as time ran out.

While the Blue Devils have typically excelled in that area against the Tar Heels, Berry, Hicks and a clutch three-pointer from Jackson were enough to hand UNC a hard-fought win that certainly helps validate its position as the outright ACC regular season champions.

Michael Jordan told Tar Heel fans that “The ceiling is the roof,” for UNC moving forward. (Todd Melet)

Now comes the time the Tar Heels have been waiting for since Kris Jenkins’ shot broke their hearts in last year’s NCAA Title Game–the postseason, and with it, a chance to take the roof off the ceiling or whatever it is Jordan was talking about.

“Winning the league–and winning it by two games–is something we’ll always be proud of,” Williams said. “I think it is the best league. Top to bottom there’s no other league in the country like it. Now we’ve got to back it up and do in the postseason what we did last year.

“We showed everybody that we’re the best league last year with what we did in the postseason, and up until this point we’ve shown that we’re the champions.”

Up Next:

UNC is the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, and has earned a double-bye into the quarterfinals–meaning its first game will be on Thursday, March 9 at noon.

Game Notes:

  • Isaiah Hicks became the 76th Tar Heel to reach the 1,000 career point mark, which is the most by any school in the entire NCAA.
  • UNC completed a perfect 15-0 season at the Smith Center, just the third time it has done so since 2005.
  • The Tar Heels shot 51 percent in the game, compared to Duke’s 44 percent.
  • Embattled Duke guard Grayson Allen was given a technical foul in the first half for elbowing UNC freshman Brandon Robinson.

 

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