CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Jon Scheyer
scored 24 points and eighth-ranked Duke pulled away in the final
minutes to beat North Carolina 64-54 on Wednesday night.
Kyle Singler added 19 points for the
Blue Devils (20-4, 8-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who shot poorly all
night and couldn't make much of anything in close. But boasting a
bigger and tougher front line than in years past, Duke dominated the
boards and got plenty of extra looks to make up for all those misses.
Duke hit nine 3-pointers, but shot 32 percent overall and went 13-for-51 (25 percent) from inside the arc.
The loss only added to the defending
national champions' misery in a season that is slipping away. North
Carolina (13-11, 2-7) has lost eight of 10 since the start of 2010,
including four in a row overall to fall near the bottom of the league
standings.
Will Graves scored 13 points to lead the Tar Heels.
The rivalry game might have lost some
luster this time around due to North Carolina's struggles and Duke
looking like a good, but hardly great, team. Both schools had been
ranked in the top 10 in the past four meetings, but North Carolina —
which started the season at No. 6 and as co-ACC favorite with Duke —
fell out of the poll two weeks ago.
Still, this one ended up fitting
right in with college basketball's fiercest rivalry when it came to
intensity and fight. Neither team led by more than six points in the
first 30 minutes and they were tied with about 8 minutes left before
the Blue Devils finally took control.
Duke finished with a 51-42 rebounding
advantage and converted 23 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance
points, baskets that repeatedly drained the momentum building when the
Tar Heels appeared on the verge of a defensive stop.
It was a satisfying win for the Blue
Devils, who had lost six of seven meetings during a stretch that seemed
to signal a shift in power between the programs back to the light blue
in Chapel Hill. North Carolina has won two national championships,
including last year in Detroit, since Duke last went to a Final Four in
2004.
In addition, Duke's win came on a
night when the Tar Heels retired the No. 50 jersey of four-year star
Tyler Hansbrough, who graduated as the storied program's leading scorer
and rebounder, as well as the top scorer in ACC history.
The Tar Heels played with plenty of
defensive intensity and focus much of the night, both of which were
problem areas in recent weeks. They even led 43-39 on a transition
layup from Dexter Strickland with about 12 minutes left to send the
packed house in the Smith Center into a furious roar.
But the Blue Devils — despite their road struggles this season — never looked rattled.
In an example of how the Blue Devils
persevered all night, Duke went ahead for good when freshman Mason
Plumlee grabbed an offensive rebound and threw down a reverse dunk to
make it 47-45. Scheyer followed with a tough basket in the lane over
Marcus Ginyard, then came through with a contested 3 against Ginyard
that took momentum right back after Graves' 3 on the previous
possession.
When Nolan Smith scored a transition
layup to push the lead to 54-48 with 4:34 left, the Blue Devils finally
had the working margin they needed. And they showed some veteran
composure to answer every desperate push by the Tar Heels to close the
gap before Scheyer knocked down a 3 over Ginyard to beat the shot clock
and give Duke a 59-50 lead with 2 1/2 minutes left.
It was a basket that effectively
closed the door on the Tar Heels, who managed just 11 points in the
last 8 1/2 minutes when the game hung in the balance.
Duke played much of the night
without forward Lance Thomas, who appeared to injure his right knee in
a collision with Larry Drew II with about 17 minutes left.