Duke blew a 15-point first-half lead and trailed by seven halfway early after the break, however responded with 12 consecutive factors to show the sport and silence a roaring hostile crowd.
The Blue Devils are actually in place to rise to No. 1 in Monday’s AP High 25 ballot with top-ranked Auburn dropping its previous two video games.
Fifth-year senior RJ Davis scored 20 factors in his ultimate residence recreation for Tar Heels (20-12), who have been blown out within the first assembly however responded with way more resilience this time earlier than Duke asserted management to stretch out the lead within the ultimate seven minutes.
Takeaways
Duke: The Remaining 4 favourite accomplished the primary 19-1 regular-season slate for the reason that ACC moved to twenty video games in 2019-20.
UNC: The Tar Heels had received six straight coming in with their greatest play of the season to play their approach again into higher positioning for an NCAA bid. However this was their final sure probability so as to add a resume-topping win to assist that case.
Key second
UNC led 59-53 when Duke made its transfer with 12 straight factors in a 15-2 burst that put the Blue Devils forward to remain. That included Knueppel’s backdoor layup for the lead, whereas versatile defender Maliq Brown had an enormous 3-pointer in his return from damage that pushed Duke to a 68-61 lead with 8 1/2 minutes left.
Key stat
UNC missed 22 of its final 27 pictures within the ultimate 15-plus minutes as Duke made its transfer.
Up subsequent
The ACC Event begins Tuesday in Charlotte. Duke opens play because the 1-seed in Thursday’s quarterfinals. UNC is the 5-seed and can play in Wednesday’s second spherical.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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