UNC 101, Duke 87
Boxscore |
RecapOh Happy day. What a game. We started off extremely strong. Looked sharp. Then Duke took over and erased our 11 point lead. We were down 8 at half. But it wasn't enough for a UNC onslaught in the second half. We outscored the Dookies 57-35 in the second half!
The first half was strange. We came out playing really tough. Good offense and pretty good defense. Then Duke turned it up a notch and we couldn't match their intensity. They had 4 turnovers in the first 5 minutes and only 2 for the remainder of the first half. Duke went into the half scoring more points than they in two halves against Clemson (where they lost). They shot 62% from the floor and went on a 22-5 run to end the half. Needless to say, our defense was not looking good at that point.
But the second half was a different story. We started playing better defense and everyone started contributing more on offense. All 5 starters ended in double figures. Wayne Ellington had a rough night shooting going 4-15 from the floor, but had 15 points. Danny Green also scored 15, but didn't get many open looks. Tyler Hansbrough had 17 points including a 3 pointer as the shot clock was about to expire during one possession. Bobby Frasor even got into the action (in the first half) scoring 9 points on 3-3 pointers! He helped keep us in it during the first half. It was nice to see him finally start making some buckets. Deon Thompson was a force in the first half. He was hitting shots from all over the court.
The story of this game was Ty Lawson. Ty was a total machine on the court. He couldn't be stopped in the second half. He scored a game high 25 points. He was driving the lane unlike I've seen him do all season. Why doesn't he do that more?? Duke did not have an answer for him. If we had that Ty Lawson every game, our chances of running the table would go up significantly. It was a thing of beauty.
This fourth straight win at Cameron means Tyler, Bobby and Danny are undefeated at Duke during their career, which is pretty elite company. Tim Duncan was the last player to pull that off.
UNC is in sole control of the ACC now.
Wake Forest lost again tonight and considering we don't play another ranked opponent until our final match against Duke, we are in a pretty good position (knock on wood). We play
Miami on Sunday, which will be another good test, but as the saying goes, our destiny is in our hands.
Good night!
