UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Pulls Out the Victory Over Duke

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

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The North Carolina basketball team faced off against their rival Duke on Saturday night. The Tar Heels got off to a hot start, leading by as much as 10 points in the first five minutes of the game. Their defensive intensity was excellent early in the first half, which led to easy baskets for them. UNC forced several turnovers and made it challenging for Duke to get in any rhythm on the offensive end.

However, the Tar Heels would start to force things on the offensive end, which led to turnovers and allowed Duke to get back in the game before halftime. In the second half, it was a game of runs. North Carolina came out and went on a 10-2 run. Duke would then go a 10-3 run to keep the game close.

Down the stretch, UNC got some key stops and made some crucial baskets and free throws to hold off Duke. The Heels had a major comeback offensively in this game with 91 points after an underwhelming 50 points last game. Caleb Love led the team in scoring with 25 points and five other Tar Heels scored in double figures, leading to their 91-87 win.

UNC Game Stats

1	2	T
North Carolina	41	50	91
Duke		39	48	87

North Carolina
		Pts	FG	3P	FT	Reb	Ast	TO	Min
1 L. BLACK	12	4-4	1-1	3-4	3	4	1	23
15 G. BROOKS	12	5-9	0-0	2-4	6	4	2	35
2 C. LOVE	25	9-16	4-5	3-3	2	7	5	31
24 K. WALTON	12	4-4	4-4	0-0	2	1	1	23
5 A. BACOT	16	6-12	0-0	4-7	6	1	1	25
0 A. HARRIS	0	0-2	0-0	0-0	2	1	1	15
11 D. SHARPE	11	5-5	0-0	1-4	9	0	3	17
13 W. KESSLER	0	0-3	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	3
3 A. PLATEK	3	1-4	1-2	0-0	1	0	2	13
4 R. DAVIS	0	0-5	0-3	0-0	2	2	0	15
TOTAL		91	34-64	10-15	13-22	38	20	16
			53.1	66.7	59.1

Duke
		Pts	FG	3P	FT	Reb	Ast	TO	Min
0 W. MOORE JR.	15	6-9	1-3	2-3	5	4	2	30
15 M. WILLIAMS	2	1-2	0-0	0-0	8	0	1	15
2 D. STEWARD	11	5-10	1-1	0-0	2	2	3	23
21 M. HURT	7	3-6	1-4	0-0	3	0	0	22
3 J. ROACH	16	7-14	2-6	0-0	0	5	2	27
1 J. JOHNSON	14	6-12	2-2	0-0	5	5	2	24
13 J. BAKER	11	4-8	3-7	0-0	1	1	2	18
14 J. GOLDWIRE	7	2-3	1-1	2-2	2	4	2	25
34 H. COLEMAN	4	2-2	0-0	0-2	2	2	0	12
5 J. BRAKEFIELD	0	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	0	1	4
TOTAL		87	36-67	11-25	4-7	31	23	15
			53.7	44.0	57.1

UNC Bright Spots

Caleb Love had a career-high 25 points, 7 assists, and 2 rebounds.

Armando Bacot had 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist.

Garrison Brooks had 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Kerwin Walton had 12 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist.

Leaky Black had 12 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds.

Dayron Sharpe had 11 points and 9 rebounds.

Needs Work

The Tar Heels must do a better job of cutting down on their turnovers. They had 16 turnovers for the game. They must make better decisions with the ball and make a constant effort to make the easy play more often.

They need to be much better at the free throw line. They shot 59% in this game and before this game had shot under 50% in the last four games, which is totally unacceptable.

The Tar Heels also need to do a better job of communicating and rotating on defense. There are too many instances where opponents are getting wide open layups, back-door layups, and wide-open threes.

Final Observations

The Tar Heels were able to bounce back against their rival Duke after their disappointing performance against Clemson earlier this week. This bodes well for them because it shows us that they are still moving in the right direction as a team.

Hopefully, there will be no more performances like the Clemson game for the rest of the season. It seems as if the players are finally embracing their roles on the team and their confidence is increasing with each game. The tournament is a month away so we should be looking for the Heels to be playing their best basketball going forward. Next up is Miami on Monday night.