One of the most historic rivalries in all of college basketball is Duke vs UNC, and the recent game between these two did not disappoint. Heading into the game, both of these teams were ranked, with Duke being number four and UNC being number fourteen in college basketball.
Duke started the game intensely, as they held the lead 41- 29 at the end of the first half. The second half featured a much more competitive game as UNC started to climb back in the second half, limiting Duke’s offense to only 27 points and scoring 42 of their own. Cameron Boozer put on a show for the Blue Devils, racking up twenty-four points, eleven rebounds, and three assists, being the clear standout player in the game. As for UNC, Caleb Wilson led the charge with twenty-three points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block in the win. This game came down to the wire after a hard-fought comeback by the Tar Heels.
They were tied with around ten seconds left in the game, and UNC was in possession of the ball. Derek Dixon drove down left, faked the layup, and swung it out to a wide-open Seth Trimble in the corner, and he drained the three to take a three-point lead with apparently no time left. Tar Heel fans stormed the court after the shot went in as the referees checked if there was time left or not. The referees discovered that the shot went in with .4 left on the clock and made the announcement as security tried to clear everyone off the court for the last play. Duke prepared to inbound the ball, and a long toss was thrown to Isiah Evans, who was not able to bring it down, officially ending the game. The court was stormed by students again after the buzzer went off.
The following day, the ACC issued a fine against UNC for $50,000 because their fans stormed the court. The official reasoning for this was that the fans violated the league’s “Event security policy”. When fans ran onto the court, they did not wait until all Duke’s players and coaches were off the court and safe which came to light during a post-game interview from Jon Scheyer, where he said, “After the game, what happened was I came back in the locker room and I see he’s got a bloody lip and he’s disheveled, and he didn’t know what happened. He got trampled on the floor.” The staff members who were hurt in the storming of the court are all okay and can be at the next game, and no players were hurt during either court storming.
Duke entered this game in fourth in the nation and left despite the loss still holding that number four spot. The Tar Heels were previously ranked fourteenth and dropped three spots, sitting at number eleven in the nation. Duke and UNC both have positive takeaways, like individual performances from Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson.
This rivalry seems to never disappoint, and this is simply another example of how much these teams want to win to say they beat each other.
