CHAPEL HILL -- There have been some wild, crazy endings to North Carolina-Duke games over the 233-game history of the rivalry, and the one that happened here on Wednesday night at the Smith Center will take its place as one of the wildest and most memorable of all – if not the most.
The Tar Heels’ sophomore Harrison Barnes gave his team an 82-72 lead with 2:38 to play, and the game appeared over. Reporters on press row went back to the media room to write their stories, most of those in attendance waited for the minutes to melt away, and even the Tar Heels appeared content to hold on and escape.
But it wasn’t over.
After a furious rally that placed the result in doubt, Duke’s Austin Rivers made a long 3 from the right side as the final buzzer sounded. The shot gave the Blue Devils an improbable 85-84 victory, and they spilled from their bench and onto the court as people here – fans, UNC’s players and staff, mostly everybody – stood in a stunned stupor.
“I can't explain it, man,” Rivers said afterward. “To play in this game, they have a great crowd, great tradition here. They had us down. I think, obviously, this is my favorite win I've ever had in my life.”
Rivers, a freshman, finished with 29 points in his Duke-UNC debut, and his final 3 was the sixth one he made on Wednesday night. As expected, Duke (20-4, 7-2) relied on the 3 early and often, and relied on it most of all in the final minutes.
The rally, one they’ll be talking about for as long as they play these games, happened like this: Trailing by 10 with about two minutes to play, Duke went on a 10-2 run that cut UNC’s lead to 84-82 with 14 seconds to play.
Tyler Thornton and Seth Curry both made 3’s during that stretch, while UNC turned it over twice and missed two free throws. Ryan Kelly, meanwhile, made two shots, one of them a tipped-in airball on a 3 that deflected off of Tyler Zeller’s hand, off the backboard and through the basket.
All the while, the sense of jubilation that had permeated the building most of the night left, replaced by a feeling of dread.UNC coach Roy Williams said he’d never seen such a play as that one – one of his own players tipping in the shot of another in the final moments of tight, tense game. But then again, Williams said, this was UNC-Duke.
“We had been closing games pretty well,” Williams said. “But we didn’t tonight.”
After that strange deflected tip-in, No. 10 Duke fouled Zeller again and, again, he made just one of his two free throws. Which set up Rivers’ shot at the buzzer. He made it a few feet behind the 3-point line, over Zeller.
No. 5 UNC led by as many as 13 with 15:06 to play in the second half. At the same point in the first half Duke held its largest lead, by eight, but the Heels controlled the rest of the half and led 43-40 at halftime.
“We fought like crazy to stay close,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “And then in the last couple of minutes, we got hot.”
Krzyzewski described it as a “storybook” ending and said, “for me, that’s one of the best ones” in the history of the rivalry. Moments earlier, Williams had sat in the same chair, with tears welling in his eyes, trying to explain something he couldn’t.
“This one hurts,” he said.
Barnes, playing with an injured left ankle that had him limited throughout practice this week, finished with a team-high 25 for UNC, and scored 19 of those points in the second half. Zeller finished with 23 for UNC – 19 of those in the first half – and Kelly and Curry added 15 apiece for the Blue Devils.
UNC (20-4, 7-2) controlled the interior while Duke worked the perimeter. The Devils attempted 36 3-pointers and made 14 of them. The last one of those glided through the rim, passing through the net and into the lore and legend of this long rivalry.
We welcome your comments on this story, but please be civil. Do not use profanity, hate speech, threats, personal abuse, images, internet links or any device to draw undue attention. Read our full comment policy.
Duke’s usually-quick transition game was negated by Maryland’s ability to slow the game down, and the Blue Devils were ousted 16-10. Maryland will play Loyola for the national title.
Will and John Haus have grown accustomed to playing against each other in ACC play. Saturday’s match between the Blue Devils and Terrapins will be the third this season, but the stakes will be much higher than in the previous two, with a spot in Monday’s NCAA championship game in play.
Dave Harding, 10 of his fellow Duke offensive linemen and a strength coach went to Ethiopia in part to help construct wells where international organizations estimate that 76 percent of the eastern African country does not have access to clean water. The trip was something close to an unqualified success.
The second and third quarters have been very kind to Duke’s lacrosse team this season. Sunday in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals, those middle quarters were decisive in Duke’s 17-6 win against Colgate before 10,770 at PPL Park.
For winning the national title in 2010, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski received a $2.5 million raise, boosting his total compensation by 54 percent to more than $7.2 million.
