UNC basketball loses at home for first time this season, falls to No. 9 Duke 87-67

North Carolina’s sellout crowd at the Dean E. Smith Center was waiting all game to have something to cheer for, and make a difference in the game.

Duke never gave them that opportunity, leading from the start in a 87-67 win on Saturday in the final game in Chapel Hill for coach Mike Krzyzewski.

The Tar Heels had bad matchups trying to guard the Blue Devils. They entered the game knowing 6-foot-10 Paolo Banchero would be a problem. They left it knowing that A.J. Griffin was, too. Griffin had a career-high 27 points, and UNC didn’t have anyone who could slow him defensively.

“This was different than than the losses earlier in the year to Tennessee and Kentucky,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “I don’t attribute that to the same thing. I thought for the most part, we played hard. We just didn’t play smart and we didn’t play together. At the end of the day, you know, we didn’t have an answer for Paulo and A.J.”

Davis called the pair, “better than anybody we had.”

UNC forward Armando Bacot started off the game with the defensive assignment of trying to slow down the Blue Devils’ do-it-all. Bacot got moved off quickly after picking up two fouls in three minutes.

It made the absence of forward Dawson Garcia that much more acute. Garcia has missed the past five games while back in Minnesota due to a family illness. The 6-foot-11 sophomore was the only other frontcourt player the Heels have on the roster. Without him available, Carolina has to play small with a four-guard lineup and their margin of error against a team with size like Duke, becomes razor thin.

Carolina was outscored 14-3 with Bacot sidelined over a five-minute stretch and trailed by as many as 23 in the first half.

“It definitely hurt, he’s a captain on this team and we need him out there on the floor,” UNC senior Leaky Black said. “Going into the game this whole week I told him, ‘Whatever you do, you can’t get into foul trouble.’”

Duke also took advantage on the boards, outrebounding UNC 40-24. It was only the third time this season Carolina has been beat on the boards. Tennessee outrebounded them by eight and Kentucky enjoyed a plus-18 rebound margin.

The Blue Devils also held Carolina to just six offensive rebounds and two second-chance points. It’s part of the reason for the Heels’ slow start in the first half after shooting just 31 percent.

The Heels rallied to cut their 23-point deficit down to 11 at halftime, when they trailed 39-28. But Duke opened the second half with a 10-0 run, powered by Griffin.

“I was expecting us to throw the first punch in the second half and really put some life into this crowd, into our team,” Davis said. “And I really think that the difference was their response at the beginning of the game and their response at the beginning of the second half. They just took it to us on both ends of the floor at the beginning of both halves and we were just playing catch up the entire game.”

Here’s what we learned from UNC’s loss:

Welcome to the bubble

Carolina missed a chance to get a Quad-1 win in the NCAA’s NET rankings and a shot at beating a ranked team. This is what a bubble team’s resume looks like. The Heels have lost every marquee game they’ve played in and have now lost to the four other teams at the top of the ACC. Most of those losses have come by double-digits.

There aren’t many chances for resume builders in the ACC. The Heels will get another chance against the Blue Devils in the regular season finale at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But nothing from Saturday’s loss indicates reasons for optimism, especially considering it will be Krzyzewski’s last home game at Duke.

Carolina can’t allow its loss to carry over to Tuesday’s road game at Clemson.

Lone defender

Black had a strong performance to add to his case for the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year campaign.

Banchero made his first two shots of the game, but didn’t score the remaining 18 minutes of the first half. The majority of that time, UNC used Black, its 6-foot-8 senior and best perimeter defender, on him.

Despite giving up two inches in height and 50 pounds, Black was able to make Banchero a jump shooter. In the first half, when Banchero tried to post Black, his teammates didn’t get him the ball on the post. His touches generally came facing up to the basket and that favored Black.

Banchero’s first shot attempt in the second half was a face up to the basket that Black blocked. Black had a second block on a Banchero jumper later in the half before the Heels starting played extended minutes of zone defense for the first time this season.

Banchero missed eight straight shots before he scored against the UNC zone. He finished with 13 points, but only scored with Black defending him once in the second half.

“I pretty much just wanted to make it difficult for him,” Black said. “He’s a great player. We knew he puts it up a lot we just wanted to make it challenging every shot.”

Manek shooting

If Brady Manek isn’t officially the go-to player when the Heels need a basket, he should be. The Oklahoma transfer was the player who kept Carolina’s deficit from being worse. He tied a season-high with six 3-pointers and finished with 21 points.

Manek led the team with 24 points in their overtime win at Louisville. It marks the first time this season he’s scored more than 20 points in consecutive games. And it’s the third time in his past six games he’s notched more than 20.

Davis said Manek was the one player who didn’t seem nervous at the start of the game.

“And that’s coming from somebody that this is the first time they’ve played in a type of game like this,” Davis said. “And so he was poised; he was confident out there on the floor and from an offensive standpoint, he was the only guy that was in rhythm.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2022 at 8:25 PM with the headline "UNC basketball loses at home for first time this season, falls to No. 9 Duke 87-67."

C.L. Brown

The News & Observer

C.L. Brown covers the University of North Carolina for The News & Observer. Brown brings more than two decades of reporting experience including stints as the beat writer on Indiana University and the University of Louisville. After a long stay at the Louisville Courier-Journal, where he earned an APSE award, he’s had stops at ESPN.com, The Athletic and even tried his hand at running his own website, clbrownhoops.com.