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Listen to Jones Angell's call: "Are you kidding me?!"
The Tar Heels led by 10 with less than three minutes to play, but in one of the most stunning turnarounds in Duke-Carolina history, Blue Devils freshman point guard Austin Rivers drilled a last-second 3-pointer to complete a furious last-minute comeback, giving Duke an 85-84 victory over the #5 Tar Heels.
"This one hurts," said head coach Roy Williams after the game. "Tonight it (was) two great basketball programs, two big-time teams, and they made more big plays the last three minutes than we did...
"I love my team, I love the way they fought, love the way they made plays...we just made some mistakes at the end."
"Have you ever seen anything like that before?" a reporter asked.
"No," he answered. "But it's North Carolina-Duke."
Listen to Roy Williams' complete post-game press conference.
Until Duke’s rally in the final three minutes, Carolina had dominated the entire second half, opening up a 13-point lead early and holding it through nearly the entire frame. Harrison Barnes, playing on a sprained ankle, shined with 25 points, 19 in the second half alone, and Tyler Zeller added 23—including 19 first-half points—and 11 rebounds. John Henson chipped in a double-double of his own, scoring 12 points and pulling down 17 boards.
But freshman sensation Rivers led all comers with 29, driven by 6-10 shooting from 3-point range—including that last-second fadeaway jumper that put the nail in Carolina’s coffin.
Rivers wasn’t the only one who contributed to Duke’s comeback: sophomore Tyler Thornton and junior Seth Curry also hit key three-pointers, and the Blue Devils caught a break in the final minute when Tyler Zeller accidentally tipped in a shot from junior Ryan Kelly—a mistake that cut the Tar Heels’ lead to 1 and gave Rivers the opening he needed. Kelly and Curry ended with 15 points each.
"They made a lot of big plays down the stretch," said an emotionally drained Zeller. "We were up 10 with three minutes left--you can't give up 10 points in three minutes."
The first half, ironically, went exactly the other way: Duke led from the start after taking an 8-point lead in the opening minutes, but Carolina tightened its defense, forced a couple key turnovers, drew numerous fouls, and took the lead back in the final minute. Carolina led 43-40 after a well-played and highly physical first half, setting the stage for an epic finale.
Afterward, Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski said it was one of his favorite wins in the rivalry—but he felt more fortunate than anything else.
"I think they're the best team in the league," he said. "We fought like crazy just to stay close...Zeller was unbelievable in the first half, and then Barnes was unbelievable in the second...(but) we hung in there and we won the last round.
"I'm not sure we won the whole fight, but the last round, we did."
Listen to Mike Krzyzewski's complete post-game press conference.
In the end, the statistic that mattered was 3-point shooting: Duke hit 14 3’s on 36 attempts—including 6 of 10 from Rivers—while the Tar Heels made just one three-pointer on six attempts.
It was a hard-fought, well-played game on both sides, even down the stretch. Even so, coach Williams says there’s only one worthwhile takeaway from a defeat like this.
"The only good you can take from this is to become more determined," he said. "You ought to be ticked off. You ought to be flat-out ticked off...if you start wallowing in sorrow, you ought to just go home...
"If we don't learn something and come back more determined, then I've got the wrong group. And I don't think I have the wrong group."
The loss drops Carolina to 7-2 in the conference, tied for first with Duke and Florida State; the Seminoles also lost Wednesday to Boston College.
The Tar Heels will have a chance to rebound on Saturday, with another home game against another tough opponent: the #19 Virginia Cavaliers. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
The WCHL Morning News with Ron Stutts
