Duke can’t douse Tar Heels’ fire
UNC takes outright regular-season title during a testy night
DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina didn’t waste an opportunity to celebrate the program’s first outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title in seven years on the home court of fierce rival Duke.
The seventh-ranked Tar Heels gathered by the midcourt sideline near the “Cameron Crazies” and waved goodbye in a taunting farewell, only to be answered by several people throwing water and empty plastic bottles at them in frustration.
No matter, figured the Tar Heels. Not after Saturday night’s 84-79 win that secured the top seed in the ACC Tournament and a season sweep of the ninth-ranked Blue Devils that saw UNC trail for just 16 seconds between the two games.
“I definitely think it was uncalled for, but I mean, it’s a rivalry game so I kind of expected it,” UNC guard RJ Davis said with a smile. “We’re still going to enjoy it at the end of the day.”
Cormac Ryan scored a careerhigh 31 points, shooting 8 of 12 from the field, including 6 of 8 on 3-pointers, to help the Tar Heels (25-6, 17-3 ACC) turn away push after push from Duke — and Ryan made sure to let the fans hear it with some fired-up reactions.
He closed out the game with two clinching free throws with 4.7 seconds left.
“We knew what it meant. We knew what was at stake,” Ryan said. “And to walk out of this building is always nice.”
Harrison Ingram added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Tar Heels, who shot 50%. UNC ran out to a 15-point lead with a dominant start, then stayed in control all night.
UNC big man Armando Bacot, who had nine points and eight rebounds, said the key was following the instructions of assistant coach Jeff Lebo during a halftime message with the Tar Heels up 40-31.