DUKE 63, UNC 57
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM
DURHAM, N.C.

UNC Scoring Leader: Armando Bacot 14
UNC Rebound Leader: Bacot and Leaky Black 10
UNC Assist Leader: RJ Davis 5
Team Records: UNC 15-8, 7-5, Duke 17-6, 8-4

• Carolina shot 34.3% from the floor, 25.9% from three and was 2 of 3 from the free throw line.
• It was the second loss in a row in which UNC shot under 35% from the floor (34.8% vs. Pittsburgh). It was UNC’s second-lowest FG percentage of the season (.339 in a loss at Indiana).
• Carolina’s two made free throws equal the fewest in UNC history in the ACC era (the seventh time since 1953 and the first time since 12/1/2021 against Michigan).
• The three free throw attempts equal the fewest in any game in UNC history in the ACC era. UNC also attempted three last season vs. Michigan.
• Carolina’s previous low totals from the line this season were eight makes and 12 attempts at Virginia.

• UNC entered the game averaging 18.1 made free throws and 24.7 attempts per game.
• Duke blocked 11 shots (eight by Dereck Lovely II), most by an opponent this season and the most by an opponent since Ohio State blocked 11 on 12/20/2014 in Chicago.
• The Blue Devils won despite shooting 39.3% from the floor. That ended a streak of 21 straight games the Tar Heels won they held an opponent under 40% from the floor.
• The last time an opponent won when shooting under 40% was Virginia on 2/13/2021 (39.6%).

• Duke out-scored UNC, 20-2, in fastbreak points, including 16-0 in the first half. The 20 points are the most by an opponent this season. The previous high was 15 by Alabama and NC State.
• UNC scored 25 points in the second half, its lowest in any half this season (previous was 26 in the first half vs. Gardner-Webb in November).
• Carolina shot 28.6% from the floor in the second half, its lowest percentage in a second half this season (previous .333 in the loss at Pittsburgh).
• Leaky Black had his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He was 3 for 6 from three-point range (came into the game 2 for his last 20).

• Black had five offensive rebounds for the second game in a row and has 19 rebounds in the last two games.
• Armando Bacot had his 63rd career double-double and 14th of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
• Bacot tied Duke’s Mike Gminski for sixth in ACC history with 63 double-doubles and passed Gminski for seventh all-time in ACC history in rebounds with 1,250 (Gminski had 1,242 from 1977-80).
• Caleb Love score 12 points and has 1,300 in his career. He passed Joseph Forte, George Karl and Kevin Madden to move into 47th in UNC history.
• RJ Davis had 11 points, five assists and no turnovers. He passed Jeff McInnis for 67th in UNC scoring with 1,135 points.
• It was the first time this season UNC lost when Davis had at least five assists (now 7-1 this season and 19-3 in his career).
• Duke’s 63 points mark the eighth straight opponent the Tar Heels have held to fewer than 70 points.

Series vs. Duke
• Carolina is 143-116 all-time vs. the Blue Devils, including 39-47 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
• Duke’s 63 points were the fewest by the Blue Devils in the series since they beat Carolina, 60-48, in the ACC Tournament in Charlotte on 3/8/2002.
• The 63 points are the fewest by Duke vs. UNC in Cameron since a 73-63 Carolina victory on 1/16/1982 (non-shot clock game).
• Carolina’s 57 points are its fewest vs. Duke since a 69-53 loss in Chapel Hill on 3/9/2013.
• The 57 points are the fewest by UNC in Cameron since an 82-50 loss on 3/6/2010.

Next Game: Tuesday, February 7, at Wake Forest (7 p.m., ESPN).

This years team may turn it around, but I’m not confident. For those that remember, 77-78 or this team more frustrating? Maybe too early to tell. The Phil Ford lead team won the regular season.

Forget Michigan/Ohio State, UCLA/Southern Cal, Louisville/Kentucky, Army/Navy, Alabama/Auburn, Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees because there is only one rival game that gets everybody’s attention and that is Duke and Carolina…

I have noticed that ESPN has NOT made this contest such a big deal as they did last year with almost every commercial and promo promoting that this war was going to be Coach K’s final fitting tribute at home. Unfortunately for ESPN and a stunned Cameron crowd with celebrities and tons of Alumni who had played for Coach K Carolina did not lie down and spoiled the party and celebration. With so much egg on their face ESPN quickly went to other programming. But that was last year. This season it will be Carolina’s expierence of 2 juniors and three seniors vs DUKE who will probably start one junior and 4 freshmen who have never been on a contest correctly labeled “the battle of the blues”.

Every Duke starter except for Mitchell who is 6’8 like Black is bigger that their Carolina matchup. Dereck Lively II who was the number one recruit coming out of High School last year comes in at 7’1 on a 230 frame but he is only averaging about 4 and a half points a game. Since Bacot is so important to Carolina both offensively and defensively I would prefer to see him on Lively.

Kyle Filipowski who I have seen several times on the tube 🚇 is as good as anybody in the league this year as the seven footer can kill you from both the inside and outside. Slowing him down will be a key to this game. I am not sure even Black could hold him because of the 4 inch difference in height. Nance will probably get the defensive assignment.

The other probably forward is Mark Mitchell who at 6’8 and 220 is like a bull in a China 🇨🇳 Shop and Leaky will probably have him to defend.

The only upper Class man to start will be junior captain Jeremy Roach 🪳 who is the glue of the team and as he goes the team goes. Still hurt or not RJ Davis has to step up and hold Roach down and not get torn up like Cummings did to him in the Pittsburgh game.

Tyrese Proctor the southpaw freshman will get the start with Dariq Whitehead still out with a injury at the shooting guard position. Love who always has big games against the Blue Devils May have to have another big game because nobody knows if Davis even with his fingers taped up will be able to score from the outside.

Carolina must get some points from their bench so that the starters can get some rest. Puff, Dunn, Washington and Nickel have to find away to contribute. Duke plays a ton of players so their starters will get ample rest.

Bottom line I feel the game will come down to a couple of factors: Number one can RJ Davis shake off a off game last time out and even still be a little beat up help Love with the scoring load in the backcourt and lead by example like he has all season.

Number two: Can someone hold Filipowski to a moderate scoring game and not have him have a career game like many opponents have had this year against the Carolina’s porous defense.

Number three: Can Bacot stay out of foul trouble with all of the bodies that Duke will throw at him all evening and not pick up some weak offensive charging fouls.

Number four: probably the most important factor will the Duke freshmen be able to handle all of the hype and pressure of playing North Carolina for the first time. On the other hand will all of the expierence of the upper class men for Carolina be the difference…

Regardless let’s get ready to rumble…

I am like Dook turned into a Savage defensively team.NIL should be based on you and your play and extra Bonuses how your Team Performs, Because nobody is early $$ for there NIL 😡😡

I was hoping for a better effort than what we saw Wednesday but that didn't happen at all. If anything, it was worse. I think it's time for Hubert to start playing the bench much, much more to prep for next year or to at least go down fighting this year. Most of the starters obviously aren't paying attention to Hubert when he says they're taking too many threes. They don't seem to be executing any sort of offense on the floor. The last two games are the worst I've seen them play all year and that's saying a ton. I also have no idea why other players aren't significantly eating into Nance's minutes.

Sponsored by OpeningDayGame.com
Download our app here: https://www.openingdaygame.com/the-sports-bars-app



Login to view embedded media

​

North Carolina Tar Heels​

15-7, 7-4 CONF

ESPN
2/4
6:30 PM

Duke Blue Devils​

16-6, 7-4 CONF




NCAA College Basketball Odds, Betting Lines & Point Spreads
NCAA college basketball odds, point spreads, and betting lines (ATS, over under, money lines) updated multiple times daily.

Discussion
Despite this being a 1-point game, the Heels had a bad overall showing against Pitt. With a Smith Index of -0.2444, it was the 127th-worse overall showing by a UNC team in the last 980 outings.

The Heels were "boo awful" on offense, managing just 0.77 points per possession. In the last 980 games, this team has performed more poorly in only 110 of them. Particularly problematic was the 35% FG shooting, UNC has only been worse in 48 of those 980 games, mostly due to 19% 3-point shooting.

The assist thing reared its head once again with this team as well. The Heels mustered only 0.26 assists per FG, and have only been worse on 11 occasions in those 980 games.

Defensively UNC was bad as well, allowing 0.92 points per possession and 50% shooting by Pitt inside the arc.

The saving grace from this game was rebounding, where UNC held an impressive 12-possession advantage. Only 64 times in the last 980 have they ruled the boards more.

This was a bad loss. I don't see Pitt making much noise in March, and frankly, this UNC team isn't showing the traits of a team that will either.

Brought to you by...

Rogue Shop

* It's a husband/wife outfit, as @OMGanja and his wife are craft cannabis farmers, who specialize in a small batch, sustainable, plant-based holistic medicine, small business.

* The website to visit is www.rogueshop.com

* They own 2 farms in Oregon, and DGIY (their cannabis growing consulting company) consults and runs three more farms in Oregon and Wisconsin.

* They sell Delta 8 products, THCO and HHC. All lab direct, they don’t use middle men.

* On the health and wellness side, they sell Salves, lip balm, bath soak, hemp soap, CBD flower, CBD Hot Cocoa, CBD Seasoning, REAL cannabis t erped Tinctures/Oils.

* For Tar Heel Illustrated members, they can handle personal customized orders and will have a TarHeel10 member special of 10 % off all orders.

VT defeats VA., and Iowa State destroys Kansas.

Set your DVR's as the ACCN will be airing 4 of MJ's UNC games to honor MJ on 2/3/23. That's TOMORROW.

Schedule for Jordan Day

So up until last week you could split RJ's season into two parts. The first part was when the dislocated finger on his shooting hand was taped up, and he shot poorly. The second part was when the tape came off sometime in December, and his shooting percentages just sky rocketed.

Now the finger is injured again and we all saw how he shot tonight. He missed all his 3pt attempts even the wide open ones. He missed all his midrange pull up jumpers. He missed half his free throws.

He was our best shooter. But tonight he was getting worked on defense all night, losing his temper, committing multiple traveling violations, and shooting like Jackie Manuel. I'm not sure Hubert can afford to play him 35 minutes a game while his shooting hand is injured.

Whether it be lack of a true pg, lack of offensive discipline or lack of ability to finish, these stats are alarming.
The number in parentheses is National rank.
2023 - 12.8 (220th)
2022 - 14.9 (55th)
2021 - 15.3 (53rd)
2020 - 14.3 (81st)
2019 - 18.8 (2nd)
2018 - 18.2 (5th)
2017 - 18.1 (4th)
2016 - 17.7 (5th)
2015 - 17.4 (2nd)
2014 - 15.4 (25th)
2013 - 17.1 (3rd)

We spoke with four players, now Hubert is up now