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Duke loses third straight, dominated by UNC on the road

It was the regular season finale and rematch of college basketball’s biggest rivalry Saturday. NCAA Tournament hopes, pride, and bragging rights were all riding on the outcome of the matchup between Duke and North Carolina.

Unfortunately, the Blue Devils didn’t bring the level of intensity to match those notions, as they were dismantled by the Tar Heels, 91-73, in Chapel Hill.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for the Blue Devils was not so much the final score, but rather the manner in which they took the floor Saturday.

"We didn’t start the game strong," Mark Williams said. "We didn’t start the game aggressive. We were hesitant with a lot of our decisions and that led to turnovers and they got out and scored."

His fellow freshman, DJ Steward, had a similar response.

“They came out really aggressive with us on both ends of the floor,” Steward said. “We never responded to that throughout the whole entire game.”

Mike Krzyzewski took responsibility for his team’s early game performance, and noted how North Carolina’s approach impacted his team right from the start.

“Roy had his team really prepared,” he said. “It’s Senior Night and their fans were great. And I didn’t have my team prepared the way they did. Coming off these two tough losses, I thought the things we did in practice were really good, but they didn’t come into fruition, they didn’t work out.

“That’s on me, because they really knocked us back. They really played at a high level of intensity and their defense was outstanding and knocked us back. They were excellent. And we were not very good. And that’s my responsibility.”

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Duke was out-worked from the tip, and the team playing with purpose and passion won the game. It seems almost unfathomable that either team could ever take the floor in this rivalry lacking the fight and passion necessary to win.

But that is exactly what was on display.

Duke was practically knocked out of the game before it ever started. It took UNC just 10:39 to gain its first 20-point advantage in the game, effectively delivering the knockout blow before the game was out of round one.

The Blue Devils seemed lost offensively, and in complete disarray defensively. It was, in a season that’s had some ultimate lows, one of the worst performances of the season for Duke on both ends of the floor.

Offensively, Duke could never find a rhythm, or any semblance of cohesion. While some of it was due to UNC’s defense, the Blue Devils had their opportunities. But rather than capitalizing, Duke took bad shots and turned the ball over at a high clip.

The first 20 minutes of action saw Duke shoot just 37.9% from the floor, and 25% from 3-point range, while turning the ball over 11 times. North Carolina turned those Duke miscues into 13 points.

Only freshman guard DJ Steward, who had struggled mightily in Duke’s two overtime losses, showed poise and consistency in the opening half, scoring 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-3 from long range.

Beyond that, Duke’s offense was a wreck. Matthew Hurt, who entered the game averaging just 2.3 points per game in three Duke-UNC games, did not score his first points until the 1:20 mark of the first half when he buried a 3-pointer. He scored once more in the half, avoiding a scoreless half in what would’ve been equivalent to three full games.

“We knew that coming into the game they were going to high contest and pressure the ball, so that just means make back cuts, play off each other, set screens and stuff and I feel like we didn’t do that in the beginning,” Steward said.

“Throughout the game we would do it and then we wouldn’t stick with it. It just caused problems throughout the whole entire game and we have to figure that out.”

Duke showed a little more fire at times in the second half, but even then it was spotty at best. Though UNC cooled a degree or two on offense, the Tar Heels controlled every aspect of the game.

Its perimeter and frontcourt won their battles, with Kerwin Walton and Caleb Love combining for 36 points, and nine assists. UNC’s bigs, though they scored just 28 total points in the paint in comparison to Duke’s 46, were also in control with Armando Bacot and Garrison Brooks proving to be forces all game long with 32 points and 11 rebounds.

Duke did see Hurt pick up his offense in the second half from a points total standpoint, scoring nine points, on his way to 14 for the game. But, Hurt struggled to find a rhythm, making just 4-of-10 from the floor and 1-of-6 from long range.

The Blue Devils did see consistent performances in the second half from Mark Williams, who scored 14 of his team-high 18 points.

Steward was limited in the second half to just five points, ultimately finishing with 16. Jeremy Roach, whose struggles continued for most of the first 20 minutes of action, did respond in the second with eight of his 10 points. Wendell Moore Jr., also contributed eight points in the second half.

Duke did cutdown its turnovers in the second half, handing it over just four times, while forcing UNC into 10 miscues.

Typically when a team turns the ball over 20 times in a game, as UNC did, the game’s outcome is a bit closer than this one.

Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the Tar Heels’ miscues did not turn into a shift in momentum.

“We couldn’t string together stops,” Steward noted. “We can’t trade baskets on both ends of the floor. We’ve just got to get stops and fight. That’s the main thing.”

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