Carolina Withstands the Devils' Heat

On this cold February night, Cameron Indoor Stadium was as hot as that place the other Devil calls home. It was electric, as it should be, and the vast majority wearing dark blue felt it as well as that scant few in the lighter shade. You could feel the cold anxiety in the pit of your stomach. This was a game where your heart beat just a little faster. The sweat came just a little easier. It was Carolina coming to the famed, old building, and the Duke fans knew their team needed them more than ever— needed them at their best.

And the Blue Devils gave Carolina everything they had, hit the Tar Heels hard, early and often, but deep-talented Carolina took one punch after another and never went down for the count. The bigger, better, stronger team won this one 79-73. It wasn't easy.

I thought it was a tough, gutsy effort by a Carolina team that needed to show a lot of toughness because Duke played its heart out as you knew they would.

"I thought we played a terrific game tonight," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said afterward, "but it wasn't enough to beat a terrific team."

Duke was into it early. Started a lineup that included Brian Zoubek Gerald Henderson and David McClure, but not tri-captains DeMarcus Nelson and Josh McRoberts. Krzyzewski said he felt that lineup would get them off to a good start and it did.

The Blue Devils jumped to as much as a 10-point first-half lead. They hit nine of their first 12 shots. I think they surprised Carolina by pushing the tempo, and they were hitting shots. But no team hits shots forever, and when the jump shots don't go, Duke has a hard time offensively and Carolina had cut the lead to 39-34 at the half.

With Brandan Wright scoring 11 of his 19 points in the second half and grabbing nine total rebounds and Tyler Hansbrough, who was almost non-existent in the first half, coming alive with 12 of his 16 points, the Tar Heels ruled the inside after the break against a Duke team that started to wilt. Josh McRoberts picking up his fourth foul with just under 12 minutes to play didn't help much. Reyshawn Terry added 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Roy Williams said he loved Terry's work ethic on this night.

"We started to get tougher as the game went on," said Hansbrough. "That's maybe what we need to do at the beginning of the game, too."

In the second half, Duke led by as many as 10 at 50-40, but Carolina kept coming at them and Duke began to struggle in its half-court offense.The Blue Devils had a stretch of 5½ minutes without a basket, and that got the Heels back in it.

Roy Williams wanted Carolina to keep bringing the pressure. "We were down 10 a couple of times, and I told our guys that if we keep attacking that we would be there at the end, and I really felt that way," Williams said.

He especially liked the way freshman point guard Ty Lawson took over. Duke had no one who could check him, and Lawson repeatedly got into the lane.

"I challenged him," said Williams. "I told him you wanna be a big time player, you gotta play better, and he did some nice things after that."

I'll say he did. It's amazing how quickly Lawson gets to the basket. He finished with 15 points and four assists, and the little guy was big with eight rebounds. He was just too quick and strong at the end for a Duke team that, to be frank, had run out of gas.

Carolina shot 59 percent in the second half, 51 percent for the game to Duke's 42 percent, and they out-rebounded Duke 37-29. A sure sign of Duke fatigue was at the foul line in the second half, when the Devils were just 3-10.

McRoberts, who had 11 rebounds but scored just six points, missed two free throws that could have stretched a Duke lead to seven. Jon Scheyer, who had 26 points and who's one of the best free-throw shooters in the conference, missed two of three that could have put the Devils up by 60-54. And then with Duke down by 64-63, Nelson missed two at the line, and Duke never got closer than three after that.

Krzyzewski admits that Carolina's depth was just too much. "They're very talented. The depth they have means they never take a break."

Carolina was coming off a loss to State, which had disgusted Roy Williams. The coach liked this effort much better. Carolina is now 21-3 overall and 7-2 in the ACC. They're right there in the conference race, and going into Duke and winning against a Blue Devil team that played with emotion and intensity speaks volumes of how good this Tar Heel team is and what their potential can be in March.

Duke has now lost three straight conference games for the first time since 1996. They have fallen to 18-6 in all games and 5-5 in the conference. Duke's in danger of not finishing in the top four in the ACC.

But the young Devils continue to play hard, and that is a good sign. Four of Duke's five conference losses have been by a total of just 11 points. And you know that a Mike Krzyzewski team will never quit.

"We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves," says Scheyer. And you know Krzyzewski won't let them.

Wednesday night, Carolina walked into the Den of the Devils and withstood all the heat and hostility the Blue Devils and their fans could radiate

Round one in college basketball's hottest rivalry goes to the guys wearing the light blue.