The best rivalry in college basketball did not disappoint on Saturday night. Duke basketball had a chance to win a share of the ACC title with a win at home over North Carolina basketball. It was a good game, but the Blue Devils couldn’t pull it out, and the Tar Heels went home with sole possession of the ACC regular season championship.
Duke basketball went down big early as the Tar Heels came out strong out of the gate. North Carolina got out to an early 21-6 lead, but the Blue Devils were able to come back and make it close. They got the lead down to one in the second half, but the Tar Heels immediately created some separation and ended up winning 84-79.
“Scheyer said they got caught up on Senior night,” Blue Devil Nation said in a tweet. “He said they did not get to loose balls. He told the team it was one thing if they lost but they can learn and control things moving forward. He thinks they will get it going.”
Cormac Ryan exploded for North Carolina in this game as he finished with 31 points. Duke simply didn’t have an answer for him, and that was a game-changer for the Tar Heels.
Now, Duke will head to the ACC Tournament as the two seed and North Carolina will take the one seed. The Blue Devils finish the regular season with a 24-7 overall record and a 15-5 mark in ACC play. Obviously Duke wanted this one bad and they wanted to win a share of the conference title, but they still had a great regular season.
Duke is ranked number nine in the country right now and they will likely end up as a two or a three seed in the NCAA Tournament. The ACC Tournament will be big for their seeding, and maybe they can find themselves in a rematch with the Tar Heels in the title game. All college basketball fans want to see that.
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