The Future Is Bright in Chapel Hill

The first half of Wednesday night's game showed how much more athletic the Tar Heels are than the Blue Devils, as they dominated the opening 20 minutes of the game to enter halftime with a 43-29 lead.  UNC built the lead by constantly driving by the slower Duke defenders, resulting in many layups, short shots, and tip ins for Tyler Zeller and John Henson.  Kendall Marshall was getting whatever he wanted on the floor, and the Tar Heel defense was doing a great job of getting out on the 3's and limiting Duke to one shot.  Then came the second half.

Everyone who's ever seen a game in Cameron Indoor Stadium knew that Duke wasn't going away.  Whenever the Blue Devils are trailing in a game at home, several things come together to make sure the game tightens up. The energy and enthusiasm of the crowd inspires the Duke players to play better and induces mistakes from the opponent, while at the same time influences the officials into making awful game-changing calls.  It happens time and time again, and Wednesday night was no different.

Nolan Smith and Seth Curry started the second half on fire, and once they got the crowd back in the game everything changed.  The young Heels finally showed a little bit of panic during Duke's 8-0 run to start the 2nd half, and from that point on they got away from the things that got them the big first half lead.  UNC started giving up way too many open looks from the outside, and also allowed the Blue Devils plenty of second chance opportunities.  UNC foul trouble resulted in more tentative play, mainly from John Henson, who's dominating first half performance was instrumental in building the large halftime lead.  Henson was a near non-factor on both ends of the floor in the second half, and I know his foul trouble had everything to do with it.

Despite the rough start to the half, the Heels were still up 54-47 at the 11:10 mark when Kendall Marshall was taken out of the game for a quick breather.  UNC was absolutely lost with him out of the lineup, as they have been all season, and when he returned with 9:55 remaining it was 54-52 and the crowd was in a frenzy.  Seth Curry caught fire while Marshall was out, scoring all 5 and adding two more once he returned to complete a 7-0 run of his own and tie the game at 54.  The game remained close until the end, but UNC missed some great opportunities to take the lead back.  Both Marshall and Henson missed several shots from in close, and seemingly no one on the Tar Heel roster could make a free throw or an open three.

Even with little going right for the Tar Heels after the intermission, it was 62-60 Duke when the officials decided to make their impact on the game with an absolutely atrocious sequence of terrible calls.  Seth Curry was awarded 3 shots on a very questionable foul call against Reggie Bullock at 62-60, and he made the first two shots.   The zebras made a horrible traveling call on Henson after he rebounded Curry's miss, and followed that with a ridiculous jump ball call when Nolan Smith dove on top of Henson after having the ball knocked away from him.  Despite not even coming close to touching the ball, Smith and the Blue Devils were awarded the ball with the possession arrow, and the officials followed all this with a miserably weak foul call on Bullock against Smith to create the 2nd four point play of the half for Duke.  All of the sudden it was 66-60 with 4:39 to go.  Then with under 4 minutes left after a dunk by Mason Plumlee made it 68-62, UNC immediately inbounded and was on its way to an easy bucket on the other end when the officials awarded Duke a timeout.  There is no way they had time to call a timeout in that spot, and it was just another example of the breaks Duke always seems to get at home.  This was followed by a no call that certainly would have been called a charge if the roles were reversed with Marshall defending Nolan Smith, and he converted an easy layup with Marshall on the ground.  Seconds later Smith missed a layup, but yet another weak foul was called after the miss with 2 minutes remaining and the score at 70-66. That put Smith on the line, and he made one to give them a 5-point lead.  The final straw was a no call at 72-68 when Zeller was hit much harder on a shot attempt with a minute left than Smith had been on any of the previous foul calls, and the game was essentially over after that.

Despite that series of bad calls that shut the door on the Heels, the single most important reason why Duke won this game was the play of Nolan Smith. The senior point guard was determined not to lose his last home game against the Tar Heels, and he completely took this one over to make sure that didn't happen.  Smith was a nice player last year, but this year he has transformed himself into a star.  He improved every aspect of his game in the off-season, and he now has to be considered a first round pick in the NBA draft.  Two years ago I would have said there was no chance that Smith would make his way into the best basketball league in the world, but at this point in his career he really doesn't have any weaknesses.  He can drive the lane with either hand, finish around the rim, knock down shots from everywhere, and will his team to victory.  No one plays harder than Nolan Smith, and his 34 points, combined with a spectacular shooting display from Seth Curry, essentially won the game for Duke. 

Even though they lost the game, there are many positives to take away for the Tar Heels.  After being a mediocre team in jeopardy of missing the NCAA tournament again just a few weeks ago, UNC is now a legitimate final four contender.  Regardless of the result of this game, it is clear that UNC is now the favorite against Duke on a neutral court.  I fully expect the Tar Heels to lay the wood on the Blue Devils in Chapel Hill, and I love our chances in an ACC final matchup in Greensboro.  If Kyrie Irving doesn't return for Duke this season, there is little chance of a National Championship repeat.


I love the way this UNC team is playing right now, and I expect the Heels to earn at least a #3 seed in the NCAA tournament.  Every player on the roster is playing with much more confidence now that Drew is out of the picture, and I look for this team to respond in a big way at Clemson on Saturday.  The next five games should all be wins, and if the Heels take care of business like I think they will, they will arrive in Tallahassee at 12-2 in the league.  If UNC can pull out a victory on the road against Florida State in that one, the rematch against Duke in Chapel Hill will be for at least a share of the ACC regular season title.  If you gave me that scenario before the season started, I certainly would have taken it.  This loss definitely hurts, but considering where we were after a blowout loss at Georgia Tech less than a month ago, the situation now is extremely encouraging.