Old North Banter
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North Carolina Tar Heels: Clinch ACC Regular Season

By John Woodcock

Mar 5, 2016; Durham, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Brice Johnson (11) reacts after dunking over Duke Blue Devils forward Chase Jeter (2) in the first half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2016; Durham, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Brice Johnson (11) reacts after dunking over Duke Blue Devils forward Chase Jeter (2) in the first half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports /
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The North Carolina Tar Heels closed the 2016 ACC Regular Season with a takedown of rival Duke in Durham.

The North Carolina Tar Heels were brilliant. The Tar Heels were terrible. The Tar Heels made big shots. The Tar Heels made stupid mistakes. The Tar Heels eked out a win. The Tar Heels are ACC Regular Season Conference champions. Amazingly all these things are true in the Tar Heels’ 76-72 victory over ranked Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Part of the game was about monkeys on backs. Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige had some the worst career records against Duke, including going 0-3 in Cameron. They got their defining senior win in a way that the Syracuse win was not.

Kennedy Meeks, who had picked up his game against the Orange, had some important moments against the Devils. He challenged the interior of the zone and was rewarded with points or two touch passes from Nate Britt to finish possessions.

Speaking of the interior, Meeks and Johnson dominated the boards with a combined 35 rebounds. They outrebounded Duke’s entire team. The full Tar Heel advantage was 64-29 on the boards. To be fair, Duke chose to get back on defense instead of fully contesting rebounds but that rebound advantage could not be overcome.

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    • Except that it almost was. The Heels had their shooting lapses and Duke showed acceptance in Tar Heel guards shooting threes. Those threes did not fall for the Heels. There was also a stretch at the beginning of the half where the Tar Heels left shots short time and time again.

    Duke was not hitting threes consistently either, but Grayson Allen (29 points) and Luke Kennard (20 points) seemed to find big shots when they needed them and kept the game close. That prevented the Tar Heels from cruising down the stretch. Fortunately, Theo Pinson, Paige, and Joel Berry all made the stretch free throws.

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    Foul trouble and better defense kept Brandon Ingram quieter than he was in Chapel Hill. He finished with ten points. Some of Duke’s threes were the result of knowing that Johnson would not commit on the ball screen switch, Ingram got free for such a look during the game. Ingram also made my favorite play of the game when Justin Jackson fouled his elbow with Jackson’s face.

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    Speaking of Jackson, the Tar Heel wing had his moments to either in passing or in finding space where it did not seem to exist. He, Paige, and Berry had little luck from beyond the arc and sometimes it was painful to know that they were going to try it.

    So it was an imperfect win. Yet it was a win and it did much to settle doubt that had seeped in since the last Duke game. It also won the conference and gave the Heels the undisputed 1 seed in the ACC Tournament and perhaps brought them closer to a 1 seed in the NCAAs as well. Johnson had a huge game of over twenty rebounds to go with his eighteen points to close out his Cameron career.

    Next: Observations from Syracuse

    Duke fell from fourth to fifth in the league, knocking them out of a double-bye situation. Given the construction of this Duke team, playing one more high intensity game could be a big deal the longer Duke survives in the Tournament. Notre Dame will take their place as the four seed.

    For the Tar Heels the next opponent will be decided on Wednesday when Syracuse plays Pitt. Duke will get the Tuesday winner of NC State-Wake Forest.

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