Duke avenges their earlier defeat at UNC 74-64 on Grayson Allen’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. There was an added intensity and emotion in this iteration of Duke and UNC; not just senior night for Grayson Allen but the 2 seed position on the line in the ACC Tournament…and obviously it’s Duke – UNC.
It was a tale of two halves in this rematch of Duke vs UNC. The Blue Devils struggled through a first half that saw them miss 10 of 14 free throws and 9 of 10 from beyond the arc. The bigger Blue Devils were also out rebounded by the Tar Heels 29 to 22 in the first period. The Duke offense seemed to stagnate, a trend that Duke has had at times this season. Not all of Dukes woes were self-inflicted as UNC did a fantastic job of limiting touches in the paint and chasing Duke shooters off of the line. Luckily for the Devils their scoring drought came in the first half.
The second half was a different story for Duke and after trailing by as many as 13 in the second half before going on a 23 – 10 to draw even. After shooting 10% from 3-point range in the first half, the Devils shot a blistering 53.3% in the second – going 8 of 15.
[x_video_embed][/x_video_embed]Marvin Bagley seemed to struggle in the first half with finishing plays going 1-3 and 1-4 from the free throw line. Senior forward The Pinson did a good job of limiting the Duke freshman but in the second half, according to Grayson Allen, Bagley “became an animal”. Bagley went 8 of 11 in the second half scoring 18 of his 21 points and pulling down 11 of his 15 rebounds. While Bagley’s frontcourt partner Wendell Carter didn’t have the game he wanted he did hit a timely 3 with 4 minutes remaining to give Duke a 8 point lead – scoring 9 points and pulling down 9 rebounds.
Grayson Allen didn’t shoot a great percentage in his last game at Cameron but it didn’t matter, Allen gave Duke 15 points, 5 assists and 5 steals. Allen hit shots when Duke needed them and defensively came up with a couple of timely steals in the waning moments. Allen ends his Cameron career with a win.
The true hero for Duke may have been much maligned point guard Trevon Duval. Duval hit a huge 3 pointer with 13:51 left on the clock to cut the UNC lead to 6 points. Duval was Duke’s most efficient guard assisting on 6 made baskets and reversing recent trends with committing zero turnovers in the game. Duval had arguably his best game of the season and helped to secure Duke the 2 seed in the ACC Tournament.
Duke trailed by as many as 13 in the second half before going on a 23 – 10 to draw even. After both teams volleyed back and forth with the lead Duke ended the game on a 14 – 6 run.
The Bad:
4-14 in the first half from the free throw line.
1-10 from beyond the arc.
29-22 disadvantage in rebounding.
The Good:
Trevon Duval with 6 assists and 0 turnovers.
Marvin Bagley III in the second half, 18 points.
Duke shooting 8-15 from beyond the arc in the second half.
Duke with a 14-6 advantage in fast break points.
14 rebound swing from first to second half.
