Duke and UNC Both Fall on Same Night
The transition from non-conference play to conference play is never easy. For some this season it has been a breeze, but for others, well, not so much. Both UNC and Duke entered Saturday with both 1-1 records in the ACC. This isn’t surprising for either team due to their success in March Madness.
The Blue Devils squared off against cross town rivals NC State on Saturday night. Come to find out that the youngsters of Duke, would be begging to take this game back. Duke was probably wishing to take this game back, due to their defensive effort. Torin Dorin hit a 3 with 2:02 left and then again to beat the shot clock, That gave NC State a 91-80 lead with 1:06 left. They fell 96 to 85, making it three out of their last five in the loss column against the Wolfpack. This is a common trend for #2 seeds, as NC State had already upset prior #2 seed Arizona in November. Omer Yurtseven had 16 points to lead the Wolfpack in the upset. Marvin Bagley went off yet again for Duke, dropping 31 points and 10 rebounds. Duke visits Pittsburgh on Wednesday night and Clemson is set to visit NC State on Thursday night.
The Tar Heels on the other hand, didn’t have such a hot day. 12 Seeded UNC took on 8 Seeded Virginia on Saturday afternoon, with the hopes of bouncing back after the loss to Wake Forest. For some of the first half at least it seemed like UNC could have had a shot. But then came UVA out of the locker room and the game was just blown out of proportion Virginia proved Saturday that they are not messing around this year, and this win was a statement. Senior guard Devon Hall was the man today for UVA, finishing with 16 points and 7 assists. UNC was iffy from three, shooting 8-23 but couldn’t get the ball inside due to UVA’s insane packline defense. Virginia’s ball movement is what stood out the most to me in the victory, finishing with 16 assists as a team compared to UNC’s 7. If you are a fan of the Hoos, you should be pretty excited because this team will be in the mix all season long. Now if you are a UNC fan, even though they got blown out, you should more than excited, now let me explain. Remember how the Tar Heels won the National Championship last year? Yeah well they weren’t no perfect team, at the same exact time last year, the Heels were 13-3, and this year they find themselves at 12-4. Expect key guys like Joel Berry and Theo Pinson to get the stick out of their rear and figure out how to play some ball. We have seen this in other teams, there are big shoes to fill with a lot of key exits due to graduation, but knowing Roy Williams, they will be just fine. North Carolina is set to take on BC at home on Tuesday, and UVA is squaring off against the Orange of Cuse on Tuesday night.
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By Jake Martino
