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AJ: Not Tough Enough

Duke escaped Chapel Hill with a 74-73 win because it was tougher and smarter than the Heels.
Duke escaped Chapel Hill with a 74-73 win because it was tougher and smarter than the Heels.

CHAPEL HILL – For a brief moment Wednesday night, it appeared as if North Carolina had out-Duke’d Duke in the game of toughness, scrappiness, and intensity, all of which are Blue Devils trademarks.

In the span of less than 60 seconds inside 8 minutes left in the second half, blocked shots by Marcus Paige on Grayson Allen and Justin Jackson on Allen led to a pair of break-away opportunities for the Tar Heels.

Joel Berry failed to convert on the first one, and on the second, Jackson blocked Allen's shot, picked up the ball, raced up the court feeding Paige and then putting back his miss that followed Paige's missed layup giving UNC a 68-60 lead with 6:48 left prompting a Duke time out.

But Duke outscored the Heels 14-5 the rest of the way and escaped the Smith Center with a 74-73 victory.

“Very frustrated,” Paige said about the Heels (21-5, 10-3 ACC) not sealing the deal.

There is no doubt that Duke deserved this win. The Blue Devils never let up. They fought through losing Matt Jones to an injury in the first half and Marshall Plumlee picking up his fourth foul with 14:06 left in the game. And they fought through what for a while looked like Brice Johnson turning in a performance that would equal or surpass what he did at Florida State six weeks earlier.

And that’s where the greatest concern and negative for the Tar Heels enters the picture. They fought, but they didn’t fight hard enough. Duke’s fearlessness and propensity for snaring 50-50 balls revealed itself in the last couple of minutes. Those were x-factor plays made by an x-factor DNA not quite associated with the Heels.

But it never should have come to that.

The Heels let one get away that was theirs for the taking several times, but they never could stretch out the lead enough for it to become a psychological advantage.

While Johnson was reverse-layupping and dunking his way to a 29-point and 19-rebound performance, the Devils found their game, one rooted in toughness and intelligence, and it gave them the win.

Consider that Plumlee returned with 10:51 left to play and finished out the game, playing a role in Johnson not getting many touches the rest of the way. As a result, Carolina’s offense looked confused, out of sync, and lacked fluidity too often over most of the second half. And certainly over the final six minutes, not to mention its last possession.

That’s when Carolina appeared a bit too nonchalant after getting the ball with 19 seconds left. The shot they got was a one-handed push/runner, if you will, from Berry, which was deflected by Derryck Thornton and picked up by Duke as the clock expired. Berry said he thought Williams was going to call timeout, which is why he casually dribbled over to him, but the coach waved him on.

Williams normally prefers to let the game play on so the defense can’t set itself, but also acknowledged afterward he should have called a timeout. He’s right. Setting something up, notably for Johnson down low, would have been the right move. But it didn’t happen.

“Coach likes us to attack in that situation, but we got no movement so I just tried to make a play,” Berry said. “I thought I got fouled, but it just didn’t go that way.”

Thus, it wasn’t just Duke out-toughing the Heels, Carolina made its own bed, too.

Furthermore, why did Johnson, who had 24 points and 13 rebounds two minutes into the second half - and after just 18 personal game minutes on the floor - attempt only two shots over the final 17:12, especially with Plumlee saddled with four fouls for most of that time?

Why was he setting multiple screens 15-25 feet from the basket instead of posting up on Plumlee to draw that fifth foul but also continuing his pace from earlier? It wasn’t like he was red-hot from the perimeter and was bound to cool off.

One of the most impressive things about Johnson’s performance was how it all basically came within the framework of the offense. He didn’t go off script to rack up those points, so it’s quite plausible to figure he could have and should have been much more a part of the offense after that 17:12 mark.

But he wasn’t.

In fact, here is the field goal breakdown per Tar Heel over the final 17:12: Berry 1-9; Paige 0-6; Jackson 1-3; Meeks 2-3; Johnson 2-2; Isaiah Hicks 0-1; and Theo Pinson 1-1. Heels not named Johnson were 5-23 over that period.

It wasn’t just Johnson not getting looks inside, Carolina’s three bigs, including Meeks and Hicks, attempted only 6 shots over that 17:12 stretch. By contrast, that trio attempted 23 shots over the game’s first 22:48.

“It was part shot selection,” Williams said. “We took a couple of tough shots. But I still go back, it’s more movement than it is just a shot. We lost some of our movement.”

Paige said it was on the players.

“They made it harder for him to catch the ball on the block,” he said. “We didn’t make a good enough effort to get him the ball on the block, and they did a better job of being aware of where he as trying to post up.”

There were other issues, of course. Carolina struggled defending Duke’s dribble drives, especially late. Allen and Ingram got way too many looks near the rim. Defensive help was too scarce too often. This was a problem against lesser foes in December and it remains so.

But, UNC could have managed to earn a victory despite that with one more bucket from Johnson, which would have required at least one more look. Or a bucket from anyone else, but Carolina just couldn't work in one more score.

The Tar Heels lacked the toughness to make the necessary plays late, but they also lacked it to capitalize on the opportunities they had earlier in the contest, too. Not getting Johnson more involved, not going after Plumlee, and not finishing the deal all fall under that umbrella.

And that’s why Carolina lost.


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