CHAPEL HILL – If you would have told the average North Carolina fan sometime Saturday afternoon the Tar Heels were going to shoot 52.2 percent from the field later that night versus Duke, they would have jumped for joy and expected an upset win by their team.
Had you also told them that sensational Duke freshman big man Vernon Carey wouldn’t score after halftime and foul out with 4:18 left in the game, that UNC fan would have thought the Tar Heels would win with relative ease.
Had you also told them Duke would shoot 22.2 percent from 3-point range, two of the Blue Devils’ key rotation players (Jack White and Matthew Hurt) wouldn’t score a single point, UNC would outrebound the Devils 51-42, Carolina would score 16 fast break points, assist on 23 of 36 made field goals, get a combined 24 points from grad transfers Christian Keeling and Justin Pierce, get nine assists and seven rebounds from Leaky Black, 24 points on just 17 field goal attempts by Cole Anthony, and own a 13-point lead when Carey fouled out, that Carolina fan would have dropped a couple of C-notes on their team and spent the winnings before the game even tipped off.
Lock. Bank it.
UNC win, right?
Wrong.
Duke 98, North Carolina 96 in double overtime.
Heart ache, pain, frustration and self-doubt were all wearing on the Tar Heels’ faces as they walked off the Smith Center court and the six that later fielded questions from the media.
This one hurt because it wasn’t supposed to be.
Carolina played its best basketball game of the year. The Tar Heels executed so well on offense, generating a flow and balance needed to beat Duke and give legitimate hope for the rest of the season.
Roy Williams removed some stress from Cole Anthony ‘s plate by taking him off the ball a lot and putting Black at the point. Anthony’s catch-and-shoot 3-pointer coming off a screen late in the first half was an example of why this approach was the right one and was working.
Anthony attempted just three of Carolina’s first 20 shots from the field and the Tar Heels were winning. This was different. Keeling and Pierce were pitching in big time. Andrew Platek (nine points, seven rebounds, five assists, a steal and drawn charge) was playing with confidence and grit. This was different.
UNC was headed to a victory leading 77-64 when Carey fouled out and 79-69 with 1:56 remaining. The throw-out-the-record-books cliché was coming to life in yet another thrilling Duke-Carolina battle that always delivers.
But then everything fell apart.
The Tar Heels have experienced a world of trouble closing out teams and letting opponents go on massive second-half runs this season, and it happened again. Duke outscored the Heels 20-7 to close regulation and also outscored the Heels 7-0 over the final 20 seconds of overtime to win.
A bevy of missed free throws, problems taking care of the ball in the backcourt, and defensive breakdowns were at the core of Carolina’s collapse and were sights seen too many times this season.
The Heels gave their fans an evening of excitement and for nearly three hours hope that something special may still come with March three weeks away. But in the end, that’s not who this team is. Whether it finds it later remains to be seen, but Carolina doesn’t know how to win, as it proved once again.
It has so little room for error that UNC can clearly be the better team against the No. 7 club in America with the frenzied faithful deliriously pushing them sixth-man style, but mental breakdowns took over and the Heels ended up in full character in the end.
