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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – For the first time since 2009, North Carolina made a regular season sweep of Duke, eliminating the top-ranked Blue Devils by 79-70 at the Dean E. Smith Center Senior Night Center party .
While the pre-game hype surrounded Zion Williamson, Duke's attack responded to the efforts of RJ Barrett (26 points, 12 rebounds) and Cam Reddish (23 points). The most impressive and impressive performance of the first day of the night was North Carolina's guard of the game, Coby White.
The Whites led the Tar Heels with 21 points, hitting four points at three points and pushing the pace. He faced Duke's Tre Jones, considered one of the best ball defenders in the country, and won battles that earned him confidence. White often spoke and jumped on the floor with enthusiasm after making buckets to the delight of the crowd.
Roy Williams said that White was one of the fastest and most powerful scoring guards he's ever coached, making comparisons on a par with the old player of the year of the ACC and national champion Ty Lawson. Ten years after sweeping the series against Duke, another quick guard has again succeeded.
The win gives North Carolina a share of the ACC 's regular season championship with Virginia, who also carved a spot at the top of the standings with a win over Louisville earlier Saturday. It's the ninth conference title for the Tar Heels regular season since Roy Williams took office in 2003-04 and third in four years.
For Duke, the defeat was not only devastating from the point of view of taking two consecutive defeats in the best rivalry of the sport, but also potentially costly for his playoff chances. In the first three minutes of play, the starting marks center, Marques Bolden, was assisted and was injured in the knee after a difficult fall after attempting to block the Garrison Brooks dunk.
Bolden and Williamson not being available, Mike Krzyzewski had more than Javin DeLaurier and Jack White among the downside options. With the rookie trio formed of RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish and Tre Jones in the hope of seeing all their efforts, Duke was overwhelmed by the painting, as at the first meeting. Duke played well early and had a 40-38 lead at half-time, but things turned out fast in the second half.
Duke, with his short rotation, seemed exhausted. North Carolina, fueled by the energy of a packed house and its offensive blitz, strengthened as the match continued.
In addition to capturing a share of the ACC's regular season championship, North Carolina has put together a profile that deserves to be considered for a No. 1 seed in the tournament. the NCAA. Such a distinction is by no means a lock, as the ACC Tournament and SEC Tournament Tournaments are sure to settle the order between a handful of teams still struggling for sowing, but when a North Carolina team is trained by Roy Williams has a good seeded No. 1 things tend to happen for the Tar Heels.
North Carolina was a seed 1 seven times under Williams. Each of these teams qualified for the eighth elite, five of them qualified for the Final Four and three of them won the national championship. If one expects these performances to remain average, a seed of one for a North Carolina team coached by Roy Williams has about a 42.8% chance of winning the national championship.
CBS Sports was with you all the time with updates from Chapel Hill. Miss none of the action? Review it in the live blog below. If you're having trouble viewing updates, please click here.
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