Round 1 of UNC-Duke goes to the Tar Heels. 4 takeaways from North Carolina’s 93-84 win
One rivalry newcomer and one old hand were the difference Saturday night as No. 3 North Carolina easily took the first edition of its rivalry with No. 7 Duke this season.
Harrison Ingram, in his first game against the Blue Devils, joined Armando Bacot in producing a double-double as the Tar Heels built a 10-point halftime lead and rolled to a 93-84 ACC win at the Smith Center.
A transfer from Stanford, Ingram tallied a season-high 21 points, reaching the 20-point mark for the third time in his first season with the ACC-leading Tar Heels (18-4, 10-1 ACC). The 6-7 junior from Dallas made five 3-pointers, including three in the first half when UNC opened a 45-35 lead. He also grabbed 13 rebounds.
Bacot scored 25 points and finished with 10 rebounds, his 77th career double-double.
“They played a great game,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “You know, the games that Ingram and Bacot had, they have 46 points and 23 rebounds between the two of them. They were great.”
Duke (16-5, 7-3 ACC) shot 55.2% in the second half but could never draw closer than seven points after halftime.
The Blue Devils finished at 50.7% from the field while hitting only 5 of 19 3-pointers. Duke collected just eight assists.
“Carolina played a great game,” Duke’s Jeremy Roach said. “They played a hell of a defensive game.”
UNC shot 50% but only committed five turnovers and won the rebounding battle, 35-34. The Tar Heels scored more points against Duke than any other team has this season.
Here are four takeaways from the game:
Bacot comes up big
Though he’d failed to reach double figures in scoring four times since the calendar turned to 2024, Bacot once again looked like one of the ACC’s top players.
The 6-11 graduate student from Richmond, a first-team, all-ACC player each of the past two seasons, made 9 of 12 shots. It’s the most points he’s scored in a game since tallying 25 in UNC’s season-opening 86-70 win over Radford on Nov. 6.
After Bacot failed to score more than nine points in each of UNC’s last three games, it was more like what opposing ACC teams expect to see from Bacot.
McCain thrives in his first game against UNC
Duke freshman Jared McCain did all he could in the Blue Devils’ futile attempt to keep up with UNC.
In a game where Duke led for only 16 seconds, McCain provided the Blue Devils 23 points and 11 rebounds. He played a team-high 38 minutes and committed just one of Duke’s 11 turnovers.
That did little to boost his mood. He called suffering a loss in his first game against the Tar Heels “gut wrenching.”
“It hurts, man, it hurts,” McCain said, “because this is, I mean, the game. When you commit to Duke it’s like the big game you look forward to.”
Jeremy Roach (20 points) and Kyle Filipowski (22 points) joined McCain in scoring 20 or more points for Duke. But Roach and Filipowski were each saddled with foul trouble as they finished with four each.
UNC blitzes Duke early
The Tar Heels shot 51% in the first half, turning the ball over just once, and scored more points in the opening half against Duke than any other team this season as UNC took a 45-35 lead to intermission.
UNC played connected basketball, particularly on offense where it had 10 assists on its 18 field goals in the game’s first 20 minutes. Duke’s only lead was 2-0 but UNC blew that away with a 10-2 run.
The Tar Heels led 13-8 at the first media timeout, which didn’t occur until 14:19 remained in the first half. Each team had attempted 11 shots by that point.
UNC coach Hubert Davis loved the quick pace the Tar Heels played at, even saying he’s like to see it quicker.
“It was good,” Davis said. “I give you an example. They made a basket and boom, we got to lay up. I mean, I told the guys, I said `That’s the pace I want.’ I said I think we can go faster. And that was the perfect example. That’s the way we want to play.”
Duke’s late first-half woes
The Blue Devils have allowed opponents to outscore them in the final minutes of the first half often in ACC play this season.
It happened again Saturday night after Duke erased what had been an eight-point deficit to tie the game before trailing just 31-28 with 4:23 left until halftime.
But the Tar Heels scored seven points in 49 seconds to push their lead to double digits for the first time.
The run started with an Ingram 3-pointer with 3:59 left in the half. Ingram then stole the ball from Filipowski in the lane and Duke’s Tyrese Proctor fouled Elliott Cadeau, who sank two free throws with 3:39 until halftime.
Filipowski missed a 3-pointer and Cadeau hit a jumper in the lane with 3:10 left, giving UNC a 38-28 lead.
McCain responded with a basket in the lane and a 3-pointer, leaving the Blue Devils down by five points. But Duke failed to secure the rebound on a Cadeau missed 3-pointer and Ingram hit a 3-pointer on the second-chance possession.
This story was originally published February 3, 2024 at 8:49 PM.