CHAPEL HILL – Walker Miller played two minutes in North Carolina’s 91-73 dismantling of Duke on Saturday night, but he may have made the game’s biggest play.

With Duke corralling the opening tip on senior night, which is the only reason Miller was on the floor in the first place, courtesy of Carolina’s tradition of all seniors starting in their final home games, the Blue Devils made three passes before the ball ended up in freshman guard D.J. Steward’s hands.

Steward, with UNC senior Andrew Platek checking him, got the ball on the right wing just in front of Carolina’s bench. He got a ball screen from Matthew Hurt and dribbled toward the top of the key when he darted down the middle of the lane.

Miller, who is 6-foot-11 and was guarding seven-foot Duke forward Mark Williams, played off of him as the ball moved toward the middle of the court. And as Steward made the move toward the basket, Miller slid over, established position, and waited for the Blue Devils freshman to make contact.

He did and the whistle blew: charging on Steward.

Sixteen seconds into the game, Miller made a play for his team, one that caused an eruption from his teammates on the bench. And UNC Coach Roy Williams’ reaction was to pop up, extend his arms out in front clinching his fists yelling in celebration.

Miller’s play infused his teammates, setting the stage for Carolina’s romp.

“When Walker Miller set that charge, that kind of set the tone for us and gave us a huge energy boost,” said freshman guard Kerwin Walton, who finished with 18 points. “And it convinced everybody that we can't have just one guy hustling and making big plays.”

Twenty-six seconds after Miller’s big play, Garrison Brooks, who has started 104 more games than Miller in their UNC careers, knocked down a 16-foot jumper for the game’s first points, and the Tar Heels were off and running.

“I thought that one of the greatest things was at the start of the game, starting seniors, and Walker Miller to take a charge on the first possession,” Williams said. “I've been after our guys all year long, I don't think we do anything close to what we want to do about taking the charge on the defensive end of the floor.”

Miller did not score on the night. In fact, he didn’t even shoot, but he grabbed a rebound. And he made a play his teammates were happy to talk about after the contest. Each one that met with the media heaped praise on Miller, whose brother, Wes Miller, was on Carolina’s 2005 national championship team and is currently the head coach at UNC-Greensboro.

Perhaps the most impressive comments came from Brooks, who came to UNC in the same class as Miller. Only that Brooks was highly recruited and has turned in a nice UNC career, starting for a team that was a one seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and a year ago the Alabama native was second-team All-ACC.

But Brooks’ respect for the walk-on is rather obvious.

“He comes in, works his butt off every day,” Brooks said. “He cares about this program. He's the definition of Carolina basketball. A guy that comes in, works every day, does everything the right way.

“For him to get a chance to go in the game and do the right thing meant a lot to us and we couldn't let our energy fall from that one possession.”

The jovial mood of the Tar Heels following the win might be most reflected in that Miller was in the interview room when Brooks was doing postgame zoom with the media. So, he asked to chime in for a minute, and did.

“Hey buddy,” Miller said, as Brooks looked up, clearly expecting something funny from his classmate. “That was a great answer, I couldn’t have said it any better myself.”

Brooks’ response, “Absolutely,” and then he let out a big smile.

The Tar Heels were all kicks-and-giggles Saturday night, and for good reason.

They blasted Duke, the seniors went out in style, they likely secured an invitation to the NCAA Tournament, and their initial boost came from a guy who has scored 36 points and grabbed 31 rebounds in his career.

Miller's high scoring game is four points in 2019 versus Virginia Tech and last year at Gonzaga. The most he's played in a game was 15 minutes a year ago at Wake Forest.

But his two minutes Saturday were the biggest of his career, and infused his team onto a n enormous victory.