ACC Tournament Semifinal
#1 Duke Blue Devils (29-3, 19-1 ACC) vs. North Carolina Tar Heels (22-12, 13-7 ACC)
Friday, March 14 • 7:00 p.m. ET
Spectrum Center (20,200) • Charlotte, NC
TV: ESPN
Radio: Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD
The Blue Devils face off against North Carolina Tar Heels in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament Friday in Charlotte.
Broadcast Information
TV/Video Stream ESPN
Play-by-Play Dave O’Brien
Analyst Cory Alexander
Reporter Angel Gray
Producer Kim Belton
Director Michael Griffin
Radio Blue Devil Sports Network
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5 FM
Varsity Network App
This Series
Overall UNC leads, 145-119
In Durham, NC Duke leads, 57-52
at Cameron Indoor Stadium Duke leads, 48-40
In Chapel Hill, NC UNC leads, 65-40
at Smith Center UNC leads, 21-19
Neutral Sites UNC leads, 28-22
Last Meeting @Duke 82, UNC 69 (March 8, 2025)
North Carolina Tar Heels
The Tar Heels own a record of 22-12 overall and a conference mark of 13-7 of after dropping the season finally to the Blue Devils. North Carolina is the second-highest scoring offense in the ACC and ranks 29th in the nation, averaging 81.1 points per contest. The Tar Heels are second in the ACC and 44th in the country with 12.9 fastbreak points per game, and 42nd nationally and third in the league in field goal percentage (.476). Elliot Cadeau’s 206 assists are second in the ACC and ranks 13th in the nation, averaging 6.1 helpers per outing. RJ Davis is the ninth-leading scorer in the conference with a team-best average of 17.3 points per contest. Davis is third in the ACC with 455 field goal attempts. UNC has worked their way into the ACC Tournament semi-finals against the Blue Devils once again by beating Notre Dame 76-56 then handling Wake Forest 68-59.
RJ Davis is leading the Tar Heels in scoring in the tournament, averaging 18 points per game, the graduate senior is also averaging 3.5 assists. Jae’lyn Withers has emerged as a go-to scorer for the Tar Heels from beyond the arc in the ACC Tournament at 15 points per game and 52.9% shooting from 3. Withers is also averaging 9 rebounds in his two tournament games. Ven-Allen Lubin is also averaging in double figures at 13.5 points per game in the tournament, he’s also the Heel’s leading rebounder at 11.5 per game so far in his two tournament appearances. Sophomore point guard Elliot Cadeau is leading the Tar Heels in assists in the tournament with 6.5 assists per game so far in the two games.
Duke Blue Devils
Duke boasts a record of 29-3 currently and finished with a conference mark of 19-1. The Blue Devils finished up the regular season as ACC regular season champs after beating the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, entering the tournament as the 1 seed. Duke owns the second-highest net rating (38.84) in the history of KenPom (since 1996- 97 season). Only the 1998-99 Duke Blue Devils have achieved a higher net rating (43.01). Duke holds a 14-9 advantage in ACC Tournament meetings with North Carolina, including an 8-3 record in semifinal matchups with five wins in six of those semifinals since 1980. Duke leads the nation in scoring margin (+21.7) and ranks fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.80), fifth in field goal percentage defense (.384), sixth in effective field goal percentage (.576), sixth in scoring defense (61.6), ninth in rebound margin (+8.6), 12th in turnovers per game (9.5), 13th in scoring offense (83.3), 14th in free throw percentage (.788), 15th in assists per game (17.1), 17th in three-point percentage (.381), 17th in field goal percentage (.489) and 19th in three-pointers per game (10.3) – all top marks in the ACC. Duke leads the ACC in scoring offense (83.3) and scoring defense (61.6), and could become the first team in ACC history to lead the conference in both categories. Duke is the only team in the country ranked among the top-three in both offensive (1st) and defensive (3rd) raw efficiency, according to KenPom. Duke is the only Division I team to score 80 points or more per game (83.3) and hold its opponents to fewer than 62 points per game (61.6). Duke’s 10 conference wins +25 points are the most by any team in a season in ACC history. The 2024-25 Blue Devils are the first Duke team since the 1948-49 season to hold every regular-season opponent to fewer than 80 points.
The Blue Devils struggled in the first half against their first tournament opponent, Georgia Tech, going down by double-digits in the first half. Eventually, in the second half, the Blue Devils took over the game-winning by 8 (78-70). The Blue Devils lost freshman Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown in the first half against the Yellow Jackets, and both are likely done for the tournament.
Cooper Flagg is the only player to rank among the ACC’s top-10 in all five major statistical categories – scoring (3rd), rebounding (8th), assists (8th), blocked shots (9th) and steals (10th). Duke will lean on freshmen Kon Knueppel, Isaiah Evans and junior Tyrese Proctor to try to propel them to the title game tonight. Knueppel scored a career high 28 points in the win over Georgia Tech while also delivering 8 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds, Knueppel is averaging 18.3 points in the last seven. Khaman Maluach and Isaiah Evans scored 14 apiece in the game, with Maluach pulling down 9 rebounds and blocking 4 shots.
Stats Comparison
| G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke | 32 | 40.0 | 29.1 | 59.5 | .489 | 18.8 | 32.6 | .579 | 10.3 | 27.0 | .381 | 14.8 | 18.7 | .788 | 11.3 | 27.5 | 38.9 | 17.1 | 6.9 | 3.8 | 9.5 | 15.9 | 83.3 |
| North Carolina | 34 | 40.3 | 28.8 | 60.4 | .476 | 20.8 | 38.0 | .547 | 8.0 | 22.5 | .357 | 15.5 | 20.9 | .740 | 9.8 | 27.1 | 36.9 | 14.7 | 5.8 | 3.7 | 10.7 | 16.7 | 81.1 |
Stats Comparison (CONFERENCE)
| G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke | 20 | 40.0 | 29.5 | 58.4 | .505 | 19.2 | 32.4 | .593 | 10.3 | 26.0 | .396 | 15.1 | 18.6 | .814 | 9.6 | 25.7 | 35.3 | 17.2 | 6.1 | 3.8 | 8.7 | 15.8 | 84.4 |
| North Carolina | 20 | 40.3 | 28.2 | 58.8 | .479 | 20.4 | 37.7 | .540 | 7.8 | 21.1 | .370 | 13.7 | 18.5 | .741 | 7.6 | 24.4 | 32.0 | 14.7 | 5.5 | 3.6 | 10.8 | 15.6 | 77.8 |
Duke Projected Starters
PG Sion James 6’6, 220lbs – Grad Transfer
SG Tyrese Proctor 6’6, 183lbs – Junior
SF Kon Knueppel 6’7, 217lbs – Freshman
PF Mason Gillis 6’6, 225lbs – Grad Transfer
C Khaman Maluach 7’2, 250lbs – Freshman
North Carolina Projected Starters
G RJ Davis 6’0, 180lbs – Grad Student
G Elliot Cadeau 6’1, 180lbs – Sophomore
F Drake Powell 6’6, 195lbs – Freshman
F Jae’lyn Whithers 6’9, 220lbs – Grad Student
F Ven-Allen Lubin 6’8, 230lbs – Junior
Final Thoughts
The Blue Devils, now having faced the Tar Heels twice, should have a good feel for what they can do. In the first game, the Blue Devils clearly took their foot off the gas and allowed UNC to make a huge second half run to cut the Martin to 17. In the second game, the Blue Devils allowed physicality to knock them off of their game, defensively Duke wasn’t as good as they should have been. The lessons learned are fairly simply to me:
- Hit first and hit hard – Do not let a team come in and punch you in the mouth, be the aggressor
- Match and exceed their level of effort and play with passion. Play like this is your last game.
- Be precise, make the easy play and understand that UNC is going to try and need to generate turnovers
- Be the hungrier team, you have something to prove here
- Take care and value the basketball, make UNC play against a set defense, no run-outs
- Rebound the basketball, all comes down to hustle, anticipation & effort
- Guard the corners
- Defend without fouling, Duke will conceivably be down two rotation players valuing each foul you are allotted is important
