One: UNC builds confidence
The Tar Heels—coming off a stretch that contained sloppy losses to Marquette and Syracuse sandwiched around an impressive comeback win over Florida State—came into this game awkwardly situated on the right side of the bubble, but still without much wiggle room. However, UNC continued a recent trend of excellent free throw shooting and brought enough intensity to cruise to a 91-73 win (despite a discouraging 20 turnovers). Garrison Brooks came out of the gates hot on his Senior Night, recovering from a rolled ankle on the game’s first possession to shoot 67 percent from the field and shock nearly everyone watching by draining two threes. Freshman Caleb Love must have also been happy to see the Blue Devils again, as his 18 points and seven assists comprised his best performance since a 25-point breakout against Duke in January. Joining Love with 18 points each were Armando Bacot (who scored in double figures for just the fourth time in nine games), and Kerwin Walton (who shot 4-for-7 from beyond the arc after missing all seven of his three-point tries against Syracuse). Easy wins in this rivalry are hard to come by, and the Tar Heels got one as some of their most important players got back on track. This win is a crucial building block as UNC heads into the postseason, beginning as the sixth seed Wednesday night in Greensboro.
Two: A long road ahead for the Blue Devils
Going into Saturday’s Battle of the Blues, Duke appeared to be the more desperate team, and a win would have been a huge help to their NCAA resume. But for a desperate team, the Blue Devils didn’t put up much of a fight. It’s a credit to UNC that this was simply a non-competitive game—Duke never led, and the margin was only in single digits for the first five minutes and 38 seconds of the game. The classic Duke run that the Blue Devils needed to put some game pressure on the Tar Heels never came. Matthew Hurt once again struggled against Carolina, notching just five points in the first half and hitting only 2-of-10 from three (Duke shot 19 percent overall from long range). It’s hard to win with a shooting performance like that even when the other team turns the ball over 20 times, and the Blue Devils can’t afford to play like this in the conference tournament ahead. Duke likely needs to win the ACC Tournament to get to the Big Dance, and since the Blue Devils didn’t earn a bye, they’ll have to start that quest earlier than most teams by playing on Tuesday against Boston College (who Duke defeated by just one point at Cameron Indoor Stadium in January). The Blue Devils will have to hope for a long week in Greensboro.
Three: N.C. State rounding into form, but too late
Wolfpack fans are likely angry that their team isn’t getting more NCAA tournament consideration. And they have a point. While Duke remains on the bubble (albeit on the outside for now), the Wolfpack don’t seem to be in the discussion, despite having a better overall and conference record than the Blue Devils. Both teams share a common signature win over Virginia and a bad loss to Miami, but N.C. State beat the Cavaliers in Charlottesville and Duke also lost at home to Notre Dame. To be fair, the Blue Devils defeated the Wolfpack by 16 Feb. 13, and though N.C. State has won all five of its games since then, it appears they’ll need to win four more this week (and the ACC Tournament in the process) to earn an NCAA berth.
Their last ACC Tournament title came in 1987. It’ll be a big ask.
Bonus Material:
The ACC Men’s Basketball Awards came out Monday. Center Moses Wright of Georgia Tech was the ACC Player of the Year. Other honorees from our three local teams are listed below:
N.C. State:
Jericole Hellems (Honorable Mention team)
Manny Bates (All-Defensive team, third place for Defensive Player of the Year)
UNC:
Armando Bacot (Third team, tied-eighth for Most Improved Player)
Day’Ron Sharpe (All-Freshman team, runner up for Freshman of the Year, runner up for Sixth Man of the Year)
Caleb Love (All-Freshman team)
Duke:
Matthew Hurt (First team, Most Improved Player, tied-sixth for Player of the Year)
DJ Steward (All-Freshman team, third place for Freshman of the Year)
Jordan Goldwire (All-Defensive team, fourth place for Defensive Player of the Year, fourth place for Sixth Man of the Year)
