UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Wins A Thriller Over Duke

by Derrick Clyburn

That’s what I’m talkin’ bout! Play with heart! Play with energy and attack! This North Carolina basketball team has been on a roller coaster ride this season. Enduring highs and lows with injuries, questionable losses, and now a thrilling victory over their archrival Duke. Duke is loaded with NBA talent, but it takes a team to win games and championships. Kenny Williams played like a man tonight offensively and defensively. Williams had a career-high 20 points and shut Grayson Allen down with 9 points. The Tar Heels played like men and the veterans led the charge in the second half to take control of the game. Roy Williams outcoached Mike Krzyzewski, making the adjustments to put UNC in position to win the game.

UNC Game Stats

North Carolina

Box Score    FG    3PT     FT   REB  AST STL BLK TO   PF   PTS

1. Pinson           2-6    0-1     0-0     7       4       2       1       2       4       4
2. Maye              7-15 0-3     1-2     8       1       0       0       0       2       15
3. Berry II          7-20 1-8     6-7     4       6       2       0       0       1       21
4. Johnson       7-15  4-8     0-0     13      2       0       1       0      2       18
5. Williams      7-15   6-12    0-0     2       2       2       2       0      2       20
6. Brooks         0-1     0-0     0-0     5       0       1       0       0       0       0
7. Manley         0-1    0-0     4-4      1       0       0       0       0       0       4
8. Platek           0-0   0-0     0-0     0       0       0       0       0       1       0
9. Robinson    0-3   0-1      0-0      1       0       0       1       0       1       0
10. Woods         0-1   0-0     0-0     0       0       0       0       0       0       0

TEAM  30-77   11-33   11-13   44    15    7       5       2       13      82

39.0%   33.3%   84.6%

Duke

Box Score   FG    3PT   FT    REB  AST STL  BLK  TO   PF   PTS

1. Carter Jr      4-7   2-3     0-0     5       1       0       2       1       2       10
2. Bagley III     7-13 0-0     1-2     16      4       1       2       1       0       15
3. Allen             3-9   2-8     1-2     4       7       0       0       2       4       9
4. Duval           2-9    0-3     5-5     1       5       0       0       4       5       9
5. Trent Jr.      6-11   2-5     2-2     2       1       0       0       0       4       16
6. White          0-1    0-1     0-0     0       0       0       0       0       0       0
7. DeLaurier 0-0    0-0     0-0     1       0       0       0       0       2       0
8. Bolden       4-4    0-0     0-1     2       1       0       1       0       0       8
9. O’Connell 4-8   3-5     0-0     3       0       0       0       0       0       11

TEAM 30-62   9-25  9-12    38    19      1       5       8       17      78

48.4% 36.0% 75.0%

UNC Bright Spots

Joel Berry had 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Kenny Williams had a career-high 20 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Cameron Johnson had 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Luke Maye had 15 points and 8 rebounds.

Needs Work

The freshmen bigs need to continue developing on both ends of the floor. So, that UNC can minimize the mismatches against long, tall athletic teams.

Final Observations

It looks like the Tar Heels are starting to realize what they need to do to compete at a high level. Being aggressive and in attack mode on offense and locking down on defense is the special ingredients that will take North Carolina on a deep run in March. They need to use this game as a building block for the second half of the ACC.