UNC loss vs. Duke: Three things we learned

Six different Blue Devils scored in an 8-4 Duke victory over the Tribe in the 2016 season opener.

Tip-off is at 8 p.m.

But as this rivalry has proved time and time again, when these two teams meet on the court, all of that gets thrown out the window. Joining us to prepare for the match up this evening is the host of North Carolina’s largest Sports Talk Show Ever, David Glenn.

WXII 12 News’ Brian Formica will be at the game and will provide updates throughout the evening.

Duke begins the postseason at the 2017 ACC Championship, slated for November 1-5 at Louisville’s Trager Stadium, which will also serve as the site for the NCAA Division I semifinals and finals November 17-19.

Allen shot 9-for-15 from the field.

The Blue Devils lost three of four games during a rough January stretch, including an ugly home loss to N.C. State; as a result, the team almost dropped out of the AP Top 25 rankings. Without him, Duke does not win against North Carolina. Ever since, Allen had struggled to rediscover his confidence, and every time he became entangled with an opponent – which happens just about every game – it has been studied like the Zapruder film.

Jayson Tatum woke up and scored all 19 of his points in the second half, and Allen took a backseat, but he was there when UNC started to threaten. Thanks to its strong inside-out game, BC found itself up on the undersized Tar Heels by a score of 41-26 at the half. In addition to some great shooting performances by Hughes and Ortlepp, freshman Emma Guy tallied a double-double off the bench with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

In terms of ACC play, Duke holds the slight edge, winning 19 total ACC championships to Carolina’s 18 (they won last year’s to pull within one of Duke).

“We’d like them to have fewer than that”, Williams said of Duke’s 3-point shooting. A big takeaway from the first half was that Duke and UNC were tied with 14 rebounds which came as a surprise to most. The Tar Heels also haven’t lost with him in the lineup. Meanwhile, Duke has won three in a row. Grayson Allen (15.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, four assists) has stabilized the offense since taking over the primary point guard role, and Tatum (15.8 points, 6.9 rebounds) has emerged as a second post threat alongside Amile Jefferson (12, 9.2).

The Tar Heels received some good news, however, as Theo Pinson played for the first time since suffering an ankle injury against Virginia Tech on January 26. Whatever the impetus, the Blue Devils put the rest of college basketball on notice with a 86-78 victory over North Carolina: They are the national title contender everybody expected them to be.

Allen and his teammates have had plenty of experience this season responding to ups and downs, so they should definitely be ready to play Clemson on Saturday at Cameron Indoor.