As Coach K prepares for final Chapel Hill trip, a look back at his first game at UNC
The headline in The News & Observer read “Heels Crush Blue Devils,” and the 1981 game was neatly wrapped up in one story in the sports section.
The Tar Heels won 80-65 on their home court — then Carmichael Auditorium — as Al Wood scored 20 points and James Worthy 17. The Blue Devils, missing 12 of 17 free throws in the first half, fell behind 40-25 and never recovered in losing at UNC for the 15th consecutive time, the N&O reported.
So ended Mike Krzyzewski’s first trip to Chapel Hill with Duke.
Duke and North Carolina had played earlier in the season in the Big Four Tournament in Greensboro, the Tar Heels winning 78-76. But the second game was Coach K’s first in Carmichael. The loss was Duke’s fourth in row, dropping its record to 7-7 in Krzyzewski’s first season as head coach.
“Our inability to handle pressure and missing so many free throws hurt us,” Krzyzewski said after the game. “I thought Carolina did a real good job with their half-court pressure. We didn’t handle it well.”
That was on Jan. 17, 1981. There have been many more short trips to Chapel Hill for Krzyzewski as the Duke-Carolina rivalry became as intense and storied as any in college basketball history in the past 40 years.
Former UNC coaches Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge have retired and both have passed away. Roy Williams retired after last season, and Hubert Davis was named his successor as the UNC basketball lineage has continued.
Coach K remains at Duke, but will be making his last venture into Chapel Hill this week, his retirement set after this season. The Blue Devils, ranked No. 9, will face the Tar Heels at the Smith Center on Saturday, playing a team undefeated at home this season.
Interestingly, Krzyzewski’s first game in the Triangle was at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum — as a player. Army, coached by Bob Knight, was beaten 75-60 by the Wolfpack in the Triangle Classic in December 1967, the Black Knights’ worst loss in what would be a 20-5 season.
Krzyzewski had two points and five fouls in that game at Reynolds as the Pack’s Eddie Biedenbach was the star with 21 points — Krzyzewski guarded Biedenbach and did a creditable job on the speedy guard in the first half. Krzyzewski, a junior guard, had the winning free throw the next night as Army edged Yale 50-49 in the consolation game.
After playing and later coaching at Army, Krzyzewski was a surprise pick by then athletic director Tom Butters at Duke to replace Bill Foster as the Blue Devils’ head coach in March 1980. He inherited a team with such players as Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard, who had helped Duke win the ACC championship and reach the Final Four in 1978.
In that 1981 game in Chapel Hill, Dennard fouled out with 10 minutes left in the game and Banks suffered a sprained ankle, adding to Duke’s misery. But the Blue Devils beat the Tar Heels in the final game of the regular season at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Banks making a buzzer-beater to force overtime and Duke winning 66-65 on Senior Day.
Banks, before his last home game at Cameron, appeared in a tuxedo and tossed roses to the crowd, ever the showman. The senior then scored 25 points and hit the game-winner late in OT as Coach K got his first win over the Tar Heels.
After blowout losses in Chapel Hill his first three seasons, Krzyzewski and Duke lost in double overtime in March 1984 at Carmichael. The next season, Duke was ranked second nationally and won 93-77 in Chapel Hill against a UNC team ranked sixth.
A year later, Duke was 16-0 and ranked third when it went to UNC for the long-awaited opening of the Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center on Jan. 18, 1986. The Tar Heels, ranked No. 1, emerged with a 95-92 victory before a crowd of 21,000 that enjoyed chanting, “We’re No. 1.”
“I was extremely pleased with the win,” UNC’s Smith said after the game.
Krzyzewski was given a technical foul in the game after protesting a call, spurring a 12-0 run by the Tar Heels.
“I was shocked. I did not curse,” the N&O reported Krzyzewski saying. “I’ve had technicals before and probably deserved them. But not this time. I didn’t say much.”
Things have never been quite the same, and won’t be Saturday in Coach K’s last ride to Chapel Hill, and his final game a the Smith Center.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
