After gut-punch loss at UNC, Duke basketball challenged to recover
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- Duke led nearly all game but gave up Trimble’s buzzer 3, losing 71-68
- Cameron Boozer had 24, missed crucial layup and vowed to fight harder
- Ngongba fouled out late, letting Veesaar spark UNC’s second-half comeback
It was after North Carolina’s Seth Trimble had knocked down the 3-pointer to win the game.
After Carolina students and fans had madly stormed the court at the Smith Center, then did it again after Duke was allowed one last possession with four-tenths of a second remaining and lost, 71-68.
The No. 4 Blue Devils finally escaped the court to the locker room Saturday, left to ponder how they led the rivalry game nearly start to finish but couldn’t finish off the No. 14 Tar Heels in the end.
Duke freshman Cameron Boozer stood in a hallway, facing a throng of media, hearing questions posed while jubilant UNC fans nearby hooted and hollered and jeered in his direction from behind a black curtain.
Boozer ignored the noise.
“We did a lot of good things in this game,” Boozer said. “We were up. I think the only time they were leading was that last shot …
“I just know I’ve got to fight better for our team. Those guys fight for us every day and I’ve got to fight for them, too. It’s just tough, knowing we were leading the whole game.”
Duke’s last shot, the one that would trouble Boozer, came after the Blue Devils’ had forced Trimble into a turnover with 43 seconds left. With the score tied 68-68, Duke coach Jon Scheyer called a 30-second timeout to set up a play, and Boozer got the ball and then powered his way to the basket past Henri Veesaar.
And missed. With 15 seconds left. It was a contested shot and there was contact from Veesaar. As Boozer ran back down court, he could only look toward the rafters.
After a UNC timeout, the Blue Devils jammed up the lane defensively on a drive by UNC’s Derek Dixon, but Trimble was alone in the right corner. Dixon found him for the 3 as Duke’s Dame Sarr closed late.
Swish. Pandemonium.
“We’re not going to make any excuses,” said Boozer, who had a game-high 24 points. “We’ve just got to be better. We’re going to bounce back and stay connected.”
Time to learn from another close loss again
After their 82-81 loss to Texas Tech in New York, the Blue Devils bounced back with 10 straight ACC wins. That, too, was a heart-breaking loss, Boozer’s last shot a 3-pointer at the buzzer that was short.
“At the end of the day I’ve just got to be a lot better for our team on both sides of the ball,” Boozer said. “It definitely was a tough one to lose. But we’ll be all right.”
It hurt the Devils that center Patrick Ngongba II was limited to a little more than 16 minutes because of foul trouble, fouling out with 6:18 left and Duke leading, 62-55.
Ngongba’s foul problems allowed Veesaar to finally have an impact on the offensive end. Veesaar, scoreless in the first half, went to work inside and had 13 points in the second half, nailing a 3 with 1:40 remaining for the 68-all tie that had the Smith Center shaking.
“Their front line’s really good,” Scheyer said. “Veesaar, the second half, really came alive. We’re a different team if Pat is not out there.”
Boozer sat out part of the first half after picking up his second foul, and Duke’s Maliq Brown was playing with four fouls in the second half.
“For 30 minutes of the game we’re battling foul trouble, and I thought we weathered that storm,” Scheyer said.
Duke did plenty right, except....
By game’s end, the Devils had outscored Carolina in the paint. They had more rebounds. They had more second-chance points, more fast-break points, more assists, more steals.
Duke also had more personal fouls: 15 to UNC’s 7. The Heels were called for one foul in the second half.
The Devils (21-2), who beat the Heels three times last season, never trailed until there was four-tenths of a second left. It was the wrong time to fall behind.
“I thought our guys were incredibly ready to play throughout the entire game and really were in control of the game,” Scheyer said.
That’s something Scheyer likely will mention when the team gathers together again, preparing for a trip to Pittsburgh and the Tuesday road game against the Panthers.
“We’ll learn from this, we’ll grow from this,” Scheyer said. “Credit to Carolina for clawing and fighting back and making one more play than we did down the stretch.”
After the game at Pitt, the Blue Devils host No. 20 Clemson on Saturday and then Syracuse before a matchup against No. 2 Michigan in one last nonconference matchup in Washington, D.C.
“Obviously, Carolina’s a great team,” Boozer said. “But we know how good we can be, how much better we can be, and we’re going to come back stronger, for sure.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2026 at 6:15 AM.
