“The Biggest Rivalry In Sports,” says Jay Williams, an ESPN college basketball analyst, whilst describing the annual Duke vs UNC battle. That is exactly what fans saw on Saturday, February 1st, at Cameron Indoor Stadium, as the Duke Blue Devils took down the University of North Carolina Tar Heels in a harsh victory of 87-70. Second-ranked Duke (19-2 overall and 11-0 in the ACC) simply outplayed and outscored UNC (13-10 overall and 6-5 in the ACC).
From the start, the Blue Devils found their rhythm against the Tar Heels. For the first half, the Duke Blue Devils dominated, going on an early 16-0 run led by Freshman Cooper Flagg who totaled the game with the finalized stats of twenty-one points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. The Tar Heels did not suffer the same fate as these profound stats. The closest contender is Graduate RJ Davis, who finished off with twelve points, five rebounds, and two assists.
The Blue Devils got up to a 32-point lead in the first half and just continued to progress. In the second half of the game, UNC did perform better offensively and was able to turn the ball over, but their efforts were not enough to close the gap of the first half. The final score rang out to 87-70. The last time Duke had such a high victory score over North Carolina was on March 6, 2010.
After reflecting on the game, Green Level students, such as Katie Hummel, couldn’t believe this defeat of her close-hearted college team.”I’ve been a UNC fan for years and always watch this rivalry. Especially compared to the performance of UNC last year against Duke I wasn’t expecting this clear of a defeat. It was definitely a hard game to watch” Hummel said.
This loss definitely caused the Tar Heels to reflect upon their season and how they’re going to come back from this defeat with the few games left before tournament play. This game can definitely serve as an applicable lesson to any sports team; how even a great team may show out and put on their best performance against rivals or competitors but that may not always be sufficient.
Both the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels have four games left in regular season play before the NCAA tournament. It is still not clear if the Tar Heels will even make the cut for the tournament this year after such a debilitating season.
