By R.L. Bynum

DURHAM — There was no magic at Cameron Indoor Stadium for North Carolina this time, as the Tar Heels’ offense fell flat early in the second half and in the final minutes.

The Tar Heels missed their last five shots, went scoreless for the last 3:57 and shot 28.6% in the second half as Duke pulled out a 63–57 victory on Saturday to end a two-game skid against Carolina.

“We can’t hang our heads,” said Armando Bacot, who had another double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, but was held to two second-half points. “We lost two close games. They made better plays than us. In the ending of the game, we missed on a lot of plays. A few missed box-outs, turnovers, stuff like that. It just can’t happen at the end of games. We make those plays, it’s a different result.”

UNC coach Hubert Davis didn’t like his team shooting 7 of 27 from 3-point range but there were other parts of the box score that he disliked more.

“The stat that I’m looking at is that, going into the game, we had shot 150 more free throws than any other opponent in our conference,” Coach Davis said. “We shot three; zero in the second half. That is what I’m looking at.”

Carolina was 2 of 3 from the line, and the two free throws tied for the fewest since 1953 (it has happened six other times, the last coming Dec. 1, 2021, against Michigan.) The Tar Heels came into the game averaging 18.1 free throws on 24.7 attempts. 

Leaky Black had one of his best offensive games of the season in his last visit to Cameron with 13 points, three 3-pointers and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double, but missed a potentially game-changing shot with 65 seconds left.

After Carolina came up empty on four consecutive possessions with the game tied, Dereck Lively II’s put-back dunk gave Duke a 59–57 lead with 1:35 left. Black missed a corner 3-point attempt at the other end, and Jeremy Roach pushed the lead to four with 23 seconds left. UNC’s hopes ended when Pete Nance missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 13 seconds left.

One year after North Carolina (15–8, 7–5 ACC) picked apart Duke with ball screens, the Blue Devils defended them effectively and ensured that didn’t happen again.

Lively used his length and athleticism to play good defense on Bacot, blocking eight shots and pulling down nine of his 14 rebounds on the defensive end.

“He is a fantastic player,” Coach Davis said of Lively. “Duke is a fantastic defensive team. They pressure you. They do a great job with their quickness moving their feet. Dereck is one of the best, if not the best even if he doesn’t block it.”

RJ Davis torched Duke in the win at Durham last season but couldn’t create offense the same way this time. He finished with 11 points on 5 of 16 shooting and foul trouble hampering him most of the game. His 3-pointer with 9:14 left gave UNC a brief one-point lead but the Heels never led again.

Duke seemed to know how to defend UNC’s set plays all night.

“They were in a drop coverage, and once you came off the ball screen, you see four Duke players in front of you,” RJ Davis said. “They were in the passing lanes.”

Caleb Love, who had 12 points and four assists, said the Tar Heels weren’t executing.

“We weren’t actually setting the screens, so there wasn’t much separation,” Love said. “When we did get the separation, we didn’t know what to do with it. I just feel like we’ve got to get better at decision-making and knowing what we have to do when we get that separation.

Without ball-screen success and with Duke (17–6, 8–4) becoming more physical yet in the second half yet committing only five fouls before the last 30 seconds was too much for the Tar Heels to overcome.

Roach (20 points), Kyle Filipowski (14 points) and Tyrese Proctor (11 points) each had seven rebounds for Duke, which won the rebounding battle 46–40.

“I feel like it’s the little things —  execution, sticking to the little details,” Love said. “Once we buy into that over the course of the rest of the season, I feel like everything will change.”

For Roach, the only Duke player who played in the Blue Devils’ two historic losses last season to UNC, the win was special.

“Definitely, it was a little bit personal for me, with what happened last year obviously,” he said. “I just wanted to come out here and do everything I can to get this win. It kind of
eases [the pain of last year] a little bit. Obviously, we’ve still got more work to do. We play them again, so we can’t just think about what we did last time. We’ve got to
go out there and do it again.”

Bacot scored six consecutive points after Lively picked up a foul and gave way to Ryan Young 7½ minutes into the game. Bacot’s layup with 11:34 left in the first half gave the Heels a 15–11 edge. Young — a former Northwestern teammate of Nance — offered little resistance compared to Lively.

“Really just trying to be able to stay down, stay strong, and don’t let him get to the positions where he wants,” Lively said of how he defended Bacot. “Try to keep him out of the paint and try to keep him out of his comfortable area.”

RJ Davis went to the bench with his second foul on a Jacob Granderson 3-point play that cut Duke’s deficit to 19–17 with 8:44 left in the first half. With Davis on the bench, Duke scored seven of the next 11 points to take its first lead on a Roach layup with 3:52 remaining.

Carolina outscored Duke 8–7 after Davis returned with 3:51 left, and the Blue Devils’ led 33–32 at halftime on the strength of 16 fast-break points compared to none for UNC.

UNC started 2 of 12 — with two Black 3-pointers — in the first 6½ minutes of the second half. Duke led 44–38 on a Mark Mitchell three-point play with 13:21 left.

A Love 3-pointer started a 7–0 UNC run to take the lead after Duke had gone up by six. A Puff Johnson steal led to an alley-oop pass from Love to Bacot for Carolina’s first fast-break points of the game. Love’s drive with 11:23 remaining put the Heels up 45–44.

The lead changed hands three times, with a Lively dunk putting Duke up 51–50 with 8:44 left.

NOTES — Carolina plays its second consecutive road game Tuesday, facing Wake Forest (15–9, 7–6) at 7 p.m. (ESPN). The Deacons snapped a four-game losing streak (losing those games by a combined margin of 15 points, with the last three by a total of six points) Saturday with an 81–64 win at Notre Dame. … It was the second straight loss that UNC shot under 35% from the floor (34.8% vs. Pittsburgh). It was UNC’s second-lowest shooting percentage of the season (33.9% in loss at Indiana). … It was the third UNC-Duke game with neither team ranked since 1960. … Bacot extended his school-record double-double total to 63, with his 14th this season. He tied Duke’s Mike Gminski for sixth in ACC history in double-doubles and passed Gminski for seventh all-time in ACC history in rebounds with 1,250 (Gminski had 1,242 from 1977–80). … Filipowski fell on his back with 4:09 left and was slow to get up but returned a minute later.  … Duke snapped a two-game losing streak against UNC but still trails in the series 143–116. The Blue Devils have a 47–40 advantage at Cameron Indoor Stadium. … Black scored multiple 3-pointers for the first time in nine games. … Duke is the eighth straight opponent the Tar Heels have held to fewer than 70 points. … Jon Scheyer is the first Duke head coach to win his debut against UNC since Bill Foster’s 99–96 overtime win at the Greensboro Coliseum on Jan. 3, 1975. … Cole Anthony, whose Orlando team plays at Charlotte at 1 p.m. Sunday, was at the game.

Duke 63, UNC 57

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UNC lineup combinations

Score	Time	1	2	3	4	5	Segment score
Starters	20:00	Davis	Love	Black	Nance	Bacot	15–11
15–11	10:41			Johnson		Washington	4–5
19–16	8:45	Love	Trimble				0–1
19–17	8:33				Washington	Bacot	5–3
24–20	6:29				Nance		0–1
24–21	5:27		Dunn	Black			0–4
24–25	3:51	Davis					8–8
32–33	0:22	Love	Trimble				0–0
32–33	Half	Davis	Love				3–6
35–39	15:01				Johnson		15–13
50–52	6:55					Nance	1–3
51–55	4:20				Nance	Bacot	6–6
57–61	:20.9			Johnson			0–2
57–63	Final						–

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ACC standings

ACC standings

Team	League	Overall
No. 4 North Carolina	17–3	25–6
No. 11 Duke	15–5	24–7
Virginia	13–7	22–9
Pittsburgh	12–8	21–10
Clemson	11–9	21–10
Syracuse	11–9	20–11
Wake Forest	11–9	19–12
Virginia Tech	10–10	18–13
Florida State	10–10	16–15
N.C. State	9–11	17–13
Boston College	8–12	17–14
Georgia Tech	7–12	14–17
Notre Dame	7–13	12–19
Miami	6–14	15–16
Louisville	3–17	8–22

Saturday’s games
No. 4 North Carolina 84, No. 11 Duke 79
Virginia Tech 82, Notre Dame 76
Florida State 83, Miami 75
Boston College 67, Louisville 61
Wake Forest 81, Clemson 76
Pittsburgh 81, N.C. State 73
Virginia 72, Georgia Tech 57
ACC tournament
March 12–16, Capitol One Arena, Washington

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Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record
	October
28	Friday	W, 101–40	Johnson C. Smith	Home	Exhibition
	November
7	Monday	W, 69–56	UNCW	Home	1–0
11	Friday	W, 102–86	College of Charleston	Home	2–0
15	Tuesday	W, 72–66	Gardner-Webb	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 80–64	James Madison	Home	4–0
			Phil Knight Invitational
24	Thursday	W, 89–81	First round: Portland	Portland	5–0
25	Friday	L, 70–65	Semifinals: Iowa State	Portland	5–1
27	Sunday	L, 103–101, 4 OTs	Consolation: No. 1 Alabama	Portland	5–2
			ACC/Big Ten Challenge
30	Wednesday	L, 77–65	No. 21 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	5–3
	December
4	Sunday	L, 80–72	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	5–4, 0–1 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–59	Georgia Tech	Home	6–4, 1–1 ACC
13	Tuesday	W, 100–67	The Citadel	Home	7–4
			CBS Sports Classic
17	Saturday	W, 89–84, OT	Ohio State	New York	8–4
			Jumpman Invitational
21	Wednesday	W, 80–76	Michigan	Charlotte	9–4
30	Friday	L, 76–74	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	9–5, 1–2 ACC
	January
4	Wednesday	W, 88–79	Wake Forest	Home	10–5, 2–2 ACC
7	Saturday	W, 81–64	Notre Dame	Home	11–5, 3–2 ACC
10	Tuesday	L, 65–58	No. 14 Virginia	Charlottesville	11–6, 3–3 ACC
14	Saturday	W, 80–59	Louisville	Louisville, Ky.	12–6, 4–3 ACC
17	Tuesday	W, 72–64	Boston College	Home	13–6, 5–3 ACC
21	Saturday	W, 80–69	N.C. State	Home	14–6, 6–3 ACC
24	Tuesday	W, 72–68	Syracuse	Syracuse, N.Y.	15–6, 7–3 ACC
	February
1	Wednesday	L, 65–64	Pittsburgh	Home	15–7, 7–4 ACC
4	Saturday	L, 63–57	No. 12 Duke	Durham	15–8, 7–5 ACC
7	Tuesday	L, 92–85	Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	15–9, 7–6 ACC
11	Saturday	W, 91–71	Clemson	Home	16–9, 8–6 ACC
13	Monday	L, 80–72	No. 16 Miami	Home	16–10, 8–7 ACC
19	Sunday	L, 77–69	N.C. State	Raleigh	16–11, 8–8 ACC
22	Wednesday	W, 63–59	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	17–11, 9–8 ACC
25	Saturday	W, 71–63	No. 14 Virginia	Home	18–11, 10–8 ACC
27	Monday	W, 77–66	Florida State	Tallahassee, Fla.	19–11, 11–8 ACC
	March
4	Saturday	L, 62–57	No. 12 Duke	Home	19–12, 11–9 ACC
			ACC tournament
8	Wednesday	W, 85–61	Boston College	Greensboro	20–12
9	Thursday	L, 68–59	No. 14 Virginia	Greensboro	20–13

Photo via @UNC_Basketball