Four most impressive individual performances in Duke, North Carolina basketball game
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Duke vs. North Carolina basketball
Duke won its first matchup with UNC this season: Our News & Observer sports team has complete coverage from the Saturday, Feb. 5 rivalry game at the Dean E. Smith Center.
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Duke improved to 19-3 overall and 9-2 in the ACC with an impressive 87-67 road win over North Carolina.
The Blue Devils led from wire-to-wire in the 256th meeting between the rivals. Four players scored in double figures for Duke, which won its fifth straight game.
HERE ARE THE STANDOUT PERFORMANCES:
A.J. GRIFFIN (DUKE)
The freshman forward from Ossining, N.Y. made his mark in his first edition of the rivalry game. Griffin (6-6, 222) scored a career-high 27 points. Griffin shot 11-17 from the field and was 3-6 from behind the arc.
It was the third straight game Griffin has scored in double figures. He’s started the past 11 games, averaging 12 points per contest. His previous high was 22 against Louisville. He has scored in double figures 11 times this season. It was the sixth time this season Griffin has hit at least three 3-point shots in a game.
“He was on a different level,” Wendell Moore said. “We’re all proud of him and he’s going to keep getting better.”
Griffin scored the first eight points of the second half for Duke.
“A.J. exploded,” Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We wanted to run a couple of things for him, we ran one thing and he went off and our guys found him.”
BRADY MANEK (UNC)
Manek was the lone bright spot for the Tar Heels (16-7, 8-4). The Oklahoma transfer led UNC with 21 points. Fifteen of his 21 came in the first half. Manek connected on six 3-point baskets, tying his season high. Manek has made at least four 3-point shots in three straight games for UNC. He is 15-26 from long range over that span. Manek also tied for the team lead in rebounds (6).
WENDELL MOORE, JR (DUKE)
The Blue Devils’ junior forward was a steady presence right from the start for Duke. Offensively, Moore chipped in with 13 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds. His biggest contribution may have come on the defensive end. Moore stayed with UNC guard Caleb Love most of the night, holding Love to 8 points on 3-10 shooting. It was the first time in four games that Love didn’t score in double figures. Moore also led Duke with five assists.
“We wanted to get off to a good start, really impose our will on these guys,” Moore said. “It really started on the defensive end. Everybody who checked in did something positive for us.”
PAOLO BANCHERO (DUKE)
Banchero got off to a slow start. The freshman forward only had five points in the first half. He finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the year. He scored a combined 22 points in the second half of Duke’s last two games.
This story was originally published February 5, 2022 at 8:39 PM.
