The Blue Devils had been missing game pressure during their current winning streak. UNC provided that for a Blue Devil team that was uncharacteristically weak with the basketball for a good portion of the game. Even though Duke turned the ball over early they still managed to jump out to a 15 point lead in the first half. The Tar Heels would rally in that first half putting a 21-7 run on the Blue Devils to pull within 1 point at the break. Notable for the Blue Devils was freshman Cooper Flagg picking up his 3rd foul in the first half, a half that saw Flagg play just 9 minutes. Duke was paced in the first half by Tyrese Proctor, Kon Knueppel and Sion James, who all scored 10 points each for the Blue Devils. Duke shot the ball well in the first half hitting 52% from the field and 50% from 3, the issue was the Blue Devils turned the ball over 9 times leading to 11 points for North Carolina. The Blue Devils defense left much to be desired, allowing the Tar Heels to score 42 points and shoot 42% from 3-point range.
UNC wasted no time grabbing the lead from the Blue Devils. The Tar Heels hit Duke with another big run, this time 14-4 to not only wrestle the lead away from Duke but to put the Tar Heels up by 7 points at the 15:44 mark. The Blue Devils needed a spark and found it in Caleb Foster and Maliq Brown. Brown, in his first action since exiting the Virginia game. Brown, in the second half, hit 2 huge 3-pointers and had a dunk for the Blue Devils as they fought back and overtook the Tar Heels. Caleb Foster entered the game at the 11:27 mark of the second half with the Blue Devils down 2 points. Foster immediately made an impact on the defensive end locking up RJ Davis, then at the 10:19 mark Foster slashed to the basket making a contested layup to put the Blue Devils up 4 points. Foster only played 9 minutes total in the game, but his presence was felt on both ends of the floor as Duke struggled with ball handling, Foster even dove on the floor to tip a loose ball out triggering a Duke fast break that led to a Duke bucket.
Cooper Flagg would put his stamp on the game, mostly on the defensive end with 7 of his 9 rebounds coming on that end of the floor, Flagg also blocked 4 shots to go along with his 15 points and 6 assists to lead the team. Kon Knueppel led the Blue Devils in scoring with 17 points on 7-10 shooting, including 3-6 from beyond the arc. Tyrese Proctor and Sion James added 16 each to round out the double figure scorers for the Blue Devils. The Blue Devils shot 60.7% from the field for the game and 42.9% from beyond the arc.
With their 82-69 win, the Blue Devils wrap up the regular season crown and the number 1 seed heading into the ACC tournament with a record of 19-1 and an overall record of 28-3. With their 82-69 win the Blue Devils wrap up the regular season crown and the number 1 seed heading into the ACC tournament. Duke will face the winner of Georgia Tech versus Virgina on Thursday in the ACC Tournament.
