Freshman gives UNC a devil of a time
Lively’s 8 blocks and 14 rebounds guide Duke to victory
DURHAM, N.C. — Jeremy Roach scored 20 points, freshman Dereck Lively II had season highs of eight blocks and 14 rebounds and Duke defeated North Carolina 63-57 Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Kyle Filipowski added 14 points and Tyrese Proctor 11 for the Blue Devils (17-6, 8-4 ACC), who won their third straight and beat the Tar Heels (15-8, 7-5) for the first time in three meetings, including in last year’s NCAA Final Four.
“D-Live worked his butt off all night,” Proctor said of Lively. “He had a big-time matchup and an experienced guy in Armando [Bacot], great rebounder . ... His main goal coming into this was just get [Bacot] off the boards by boxing him out and letting us get all the rebounds for him. All the rebounds that me and Roach got and all the guys, it’s his work. We just got all the cleanup.”
North Carolina’s Bacot had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his 63rd career double-double, extending his own program record, Leaky Black had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Caleb Love added 12 points and RJ Davis 11.
Roach scored eight of Duke’s final 10 points, including the last four after Lively’s tiebreaking dunk with 1:35 to go. UNC missed its last five shots, including a trio of 3-point tries in the final minute.
The Blue Devils’ six-point winning margin matched their largest lead.
Neither team reached 40% shooting, but Duke outscored North Carolina 20-2 off fast breaks and was 11 of 15 at the free-throw line to only 2 of 3 for the Tar Heels. UNC’s two freethrow points equaled its fewest in any game in the ACC era.
“That was a huge thing for us going into this game,” first-year Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “They get to the foul line more than anybody. For us, just making them earn it. You know, Love hit some tough shots; make him earn it. Don’t just give them free throws. They’re automatic freethrow shooters.”
The stat sheet was fairly even at halftime, when Duke led 33-32, except for one telling stat: a 16-0 advantage for the Blue Devils on fast-break points as they scored repeatedly off transition.
A 14-5 run erased a sevenpoint UNC lead — the Tar Heels’ largest — and put Duke in front 26-24 with just less than four minutes left in the half. A Proctor 3-pointer broke the fourth tie before Bacot cut it to the one-point margin at the break. Bacot had 12 points in the first half. Roach had 10.
The game matched two men who played in this rivalry and are now leading the programs they played for: Scheyer and Hubert Davis, in his second year for North Carolina.
“I thought it was a really physical game,” Scheyer said. “You know, Dereck Lively just changed the game. His rim protection; I’m so proud.”
The teams will meet again in their regular-season finale at Chapel Hill on March 4. Duke plays at No. 23 Miami tonight. North Carolina is at Wake Forest on Tuesday.