Anyone saying the rivalry between Duke and UNC was dead because Coach K’s last game was a loss to UNC, is, for lack of a better word, an idiot. That chapter may have closed, but the book is continually being written. The players change, the coaches change, but the foundation of Duke vs UNC was never about 1 coach or 1 game it’s evergreen and anyone connected to, a fan of, or playing in this game knows that to be the case.
There’s always a nervousness among the fan base when UNC comes to town, and anyone who follows this rivalry knows why. It doesn’t matter the record, it doesn’t matter the ranking. This is a different animal. It seems that this Duke team, however, wasn’t going to allow anything other than a convincing win to happen in their first official game in this storied rivalry. Duke left no question, jumping out on the Heels early. After a Seth Trimble pull up brought the Heels to within a point at 7-6, Duke went on an 18-2 run to put Duke up 25-8. During that run Duke used a balanced attack with Cooper Flagg scoring 6, 5 each from Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel and a bucket from grad transfer Sion James. Duke ended the half with a pro move by freshmen Cooper Flagg, who hit a turnaround fade away jumper over RJ Davis to put Duke up 22 points. The Blue Devils coasted in the first half on the strength of their defense. Duke forced 9 turnovers, including 7 first half steals, and forced the Tar Heels into difficult shots, which they converted at a 29.6% clip. For smaller UNC guards, who courted switches just to find themselves up against capable tough defenders regardless, it was a struggle. Even the Duke bigs were able to keep UNC’s backcourt in front for the majority of possessions, with UNC rarely winning those battles. Duke turned 9 UNC turnovers into 11 points while owning a 7-2 advantage in second chance points. Tar Heel noted, “They were big at every position, from the point guard down to the center,” Davis said after the game. “They’re a really good defensive team in terms of their talking. They were heavy on gaps, which made the drives a little bit harder.”
The second half was a game of mini runs for the most part, but the game was essentially over in the first half. The only thing that remained in doubt was the final score. Duke controlled the entire game, even as they let up some in the waning minutes, there was never a doubt after the first 10 minutes of the first half. For Duke, the story was how well the Blue Devils took care of the basketball. Duke only turned the ball over 8 times limiting the fast break opportunities for the Tar Heels who were able to score just 10 fast break points, 7 off of Duke turnovers, Kon Knueppel noted, “I thought we were really intentional about being sharp offensively, meeting our passes, not turning the ball over as much, and I think that’s what led to the success tonight.” The Blue Devils, however, converted 14 Carolina turnovers into 19 points for the game and dominated the free throw line, hitting 21-25, whereas the Tar Heels shot 11 of 14. The Tar Heels actually won the rebounding battle 31-26, but of their 12 offensive rebounds, they were only able to score 5 points. Duke cruised to a 17 point win over the Tar Heels in this their first matchup of the season.
Kon Knueppel scored a game-high 22 points with five boards, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot, scoring the ball at all 3-levels including 2-4 from 3. Cooper Flagg amassed 21 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots, becoming just the third Blue Devil to record at least 20 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in the rivalry series with North Carolina, joining Danny Ferry (20p-9r-9a, March 6, 1988) and Trey Jones (22p-7r-8a, Feb. 18, 2015). Tyrese Proctor shot 5 of 10 from the field, including 2-of-5 from distance, and hitting all 5 of his free throws, scoring 17 points. Proctor’s 14th double-figure scoring output of the season and 51st of his Duke career, Proctor also added 3 assists. Sion James added 13 points on 4 of 7 shooting from the floor.
Overall, the Blue Devils shot 52.8% from the field and hit 10 of their 20 attempts from 3 point range for 50%. Next up for the Blue Devils, a pair of tough road games at Syracuse on Wednesday and Clemson at Littlejohn on Saturday.