UNC Grabs Share of ACC Title with Win Over Duke

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UNC Grabs Share of ACC Title with Win Over Duke

By By: Ryan Craig

Mar 5, 2007

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The ACC finally has a regular season champion, and it is the Tar Heels of North Carolina...well sort of. With their 86-72 win over Duke (22-9, 8-8) on Sunday, Carolina clinched a share of the ACC title with Virginia.

Normally that would serve as the most important story for a late season conference game. Then again, Duke/Carolina rivalry games are far from normal.

In the crazy ACC that nobody seemed to want to win, North Carolina (25-6, 11-5) could have finished first or fifth in the conference depending on the outcome of Sunday evening’s game. Tyler Hansbrough made sure that the Tar Heels didn’t blow the same opportunity that Virginia and Virginia Tech had to clinch the top spot.

While he was still in the game, that is...

With just more than 14 seconds left in the game, Hansbrough missed a free throw and fought for the offensive rebound. The sophomore forward got several Duke defenders to leave their feet after a pump fake, including Blue Devil high-flying freshman, Gerald Henderson. On a controversial play under the basket, Henderson leaped to block Hansbrough's putback but ended up drilling him in the face with a forearm shiver that left the Carolina star flat on his face, blood running down his jersey and onto the floor. Hansbrough rose to his feet and had some words for Henderson, but cooler heads prevailed.

The Duke freshman was ejected from the game after game officials reviewed the play on the monitors on press row and decided it qualified as a “combative foul”.

Hansbrough went straight to the locker room to receive medical attention and Henderson was ejected from the game and escorted from the court. By rule, Henderson, who had quickly asserted himself as perhaps Duke's best player over the past two games, will miss at least his team's first round ACC Tournament game against NC State due to suspension.

During the first 59 plus minutes, Hansbrough’s 26 points and career-high 17 rebounds helped Carolina end their only losing streak of the year, and handed the Tar Heels a share of the regular season conference championship and first seed in next week’s ACC Tournament, as Roy Williams won his 100^th game with North Carolina

North Carolina got off to a quick start on Senior Night, as the Heels went on an early 12-0 run after Duke's Josh McRoberts opened the scoring with a lay-up. Spectacular freshman Brandan Wright scored the first four points for the home team, the second basket off an assist from senior Wes Miller, who played his final game at the Dean Dome.

Henderson, whose career-high 16 points was overshadowed by the late-game fiasco, checked in for Duke soon after and provided much-needed energy off the bench, scoring six straight points.

The Wright and Henderson show continued , with the two trading baskets for several minutes as the teams headed to their benches for the under 12 minute time-out with Carolina ahead 18-12.

After Marcus Ginyard’s lay-in made the score 25-14 for the home team, Duke used a Demarcus Nelson floater sandwiched between two Greg Paulus 3-pointers to go on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to five.

The Heels pushed the lead back to ten behind a Deon Thompson lay-in and a Wayne Ellington traditional 3-point play, as Carolina saw 8 different players score in the first half. Duke broke a four minute field-goal drought with a Paulus lay-up, but a Hansbrough dunk off a feed from Lawson and a three from senior Reyshawn Terry put the finishing touches on an 11-3 Tar Heel run that spanned 6 minutes and saw the gap widen to 38-25.

A Nelson three with thirty seconds left in the first half, and a free throw from McRoberts (six turnovers in the first twenty minutes) in the final seconds brought the Devils back to within shouting distance at the break, 38-29.

Gerald Henderson led the way for the Devils in the first stanza with 10 points on 5-9 shooting, while Hansbrough and Wright led Carolina with 8 a piece, including a 4-4 effort from the field for the long-armed freshman.

The stars of the first half continued their strong play after halftime, with Hansbrough scoring on back-to-back trips down the floor and Henderson hitting a contested mid-range jumper to cut an eleven point Tar Heel lead back to nine. Wright continued his perfect shooting day with his fifth field goal on five attempts on the ensuing possession, and Scheyer, who had a career-high 26 points the last time the two teams played, answered with his first two points of the afternoon.

Duke continued to chip away at the Carolina lead, as a Paulus three and a pair of Scheyer free throws finished off an 11-4 Duke run that brought the visitors within four, at 46-42. Hansbrough then scored seven straight points for the Heels in between a Nelson jumper and McRoberts lay-in, as the Devils kept the game close.

That was when the Tar Heels began to reap the rewards of their superior depth. Carolina began to wear down the Devils, much like the last time they played. Duke has four players that average over 32 minutes per game, Carolina does not have one player that fits that category…and it caught up to the visitors in a hurry. Ginyard scored five points and Hansbrough and Lawson added a pair a piece, as Carolina used a 12-2 run over a five minute span to build the lead back to twelve at 62-50, as Paulus had to watch from the bench, having picked up his fourth foul.

Duke could do little but delay the inevitable at that point, as Carolina took advantage of a tiring Duke squad. The Blue Devils wouldn’t get within nine the rest of the way, as Roy Williams became the second fastest coach to reach 100 wins with one school – ironically that record belongs to former Duke coach Vic Bubas.

Greg Paulus finished with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for the Devils before fouling out late in the game. Reyshawn Terry tallied 15 points and 8 rebounds in his final home game.

Notes: Coach K now drops to 31-32 all-time against North Carolina...Duke is the 7 seed in the ACC Tournament - they will next take on NC State Thursday night at 7pm...Carolina is the 1 seed in the ACC Tournament - they will next play the winner of the (8) Clemson/(9) Florida State game at noon on Friday...The Tar Heels are now 127-96 all-time against Duke...North Carolina swept the season series from the Devils for the first time in 11 years.

Web Editor: Ryan Craig

Most Recent Comments

It's a good thing that Coach Williams cut down the nets after a Duke win, It will probably be the only time he'll get to do this, Go State!

"rlwhew.. as a UNC fan I personally was rooting for the Pack girls to win for Kay!!"

Still having identity problems, wuf4chargers? Nice try to be a UNC fan, I'm sure that is a goal of yours and understandably so. But you will have to be a little more original than that, since your email address is still wuf4chargers.

Must really hurt being called out like this, doesn't it? LOL.

I was not born here, have lived here for 22 years. Yes, I pull for the heels. I have season tickets for football,I like that Old Well Walk deal before the games. I go to many baseball games, have been to 12 basketball games this year, and a member of the UNC Educational Foundation, and it's no big deal. I never say WE won. The reason is ,I am not really connected to UNC at all. I really do not Hate ,Duke or State fans. When the Tarheels lose it does not change my life any, if it did, I certainly would not have season tickets for football. It's a game played mostly by 18-22 year old kids. I have my own small business with 8 employees, college sports is a nice diversion from my everyday deal. To say you are not a True Fan because you did not attend that particular university is smug nonsense. I'll tell ya one thing I'm a fan of, it's the Triangle area. It's been very good to me and my family, but it's also been alot of hard work. Hey, i like Carolina, go ahead, hate me too.

rlwhew.. as a UNC fan I personally was rooting for the Pack girls to win for Kay!!

To Newport31259: I was speaking from my personal experience, to reiterate, which is the only experience I know. Again, this was in my younger years, and we have fun with it now. I do wonder what the ages of most of the posters on here are, though.

I have been to Duke football games (although I am not that much of a football fan). Guess what I where when I go? A shirt that says Duke Basketball! LOL! I have even been to a baseball game and really want to go to a wrestling match. Ironically, I have never been to a basketball game. Go figure.

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