Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Wow.

2. It's true that Marvin Bagley had a double-double and was generally unstoppable when he got the ball near the rim. But very quietly, Theo Pinson and Garrison Brooks did a solid job of preventing him from getting the ball on multiple occasions. Duke took just two two-point shots over the final 11:30 of the game. That's largely because of the work of the Tar Heels defensively, plus some heads-up help defense from the guards (including a steal from Kenny Williams swooping in on one play).

3. For two straight years, a Tar Heel has been on fire from three-point range in the home game against Duke. Last year it was Joel Berry; this year it was Kenny Williams who tossed in four trifectas in the first ten minutes of the game. Most encouragingly for Williams, he missed his first attempt--a wide open shot--but had the confidence to keep shooting, and it had huge dividends. Williams finished with 20 points and made six three-point shots.

4. Duke began the game with a 10-3 rebounding edge in the opening minutes, quickly racking up offensive rebounds and basically just shooting until they made it. The Tar Heels knew they would have to get rebounding contributions from throughout the rotation in order to stay with the taller Blue Devils (this sentence is usually reversed in this game), and got a mammoth effort on the boards from Cameron Johnson in his first UNC-Duke game. Johnson finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds and Carolina won the overall rebounding battle 44-38, an incredible turnaround from the early going.

5. Berry didn't shoot great in his final game at the Smith Center against Duke, but he played a quality floor game, including four assists and no turnovers in the first half. He finished with six assists and no turnovers and commanded the ball for much of the game that saw the Tar Heels turn it over just two times in 40 minutes.

6. An unexpected stat: Carolina won the second chance points battle 12-7. The Tar Heels were also a strong 11-13 from the free throw line.

7. Points in the paint were 30-14 in favor of Duke in the first half. The final tally, though, was just 38-30, meaning Carolina actually outscored the Devils 16-8 close to the basket in the second half.

8. Worth remembering: in ten of the last 11 seasons, the winner of the second Carolina-Duke game has advanced further in the NCAA Tournament. There is no such correlation to the first game.

9. Huge turnout of Tar Heel basketball alums at the game, once again showing off the Carolina family. Mitch Kupchak, George Karl, Dave Hanners, Makhtar Ndiaye and Bob McAdoo were all among the unusual sightings, along with Antawn Jamison--who has been a semi-regular lately in his pro scouting role--and Lennie Rosenbluth and Phil Ford, who of course attend every home game.

10. Now comes the tough part: Carolina has to play a team on Saturday that will be as jacked to play the Tar Heels as Carolina was to play this game. PNC Arena will be raucous from the opening moments.

11. Terrific effort by the Tar Heel crowd. You will hear more about other places, but you will never find a louder, more passionate gym than the Smith Center on Thursday night.

Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

Cameron Johnson

Theo Pinson

Kenny Williams

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