Duke finished off a dominating ACC regular season with a 76-61 win over UNC, avenging its only league loss of the season. The Blue Devils head into the postseason with an uncertain footing, however, thanks to a pair of protective boots on two members of the starting lineup.
Duke took advantage of a UNC team that received a gut punch two days before gametime. Caleb Wilson, the All-ACC freshman, had been hoping to return from a broken bone in his hand in time for the rematch with the Blue Devils. Instead, he broke the thumb on his other hand, ending his first—and likely only—season with the Tar Heels prior to tournament play.
The Blue Devils had a 30-6 second-half run, outrebounding the Tar Heels 24-10 after halftime and keeping UNC without an offensive board in the second half.
Duke completed a 17-1 ACC season and nearly swept the league’s postseason award voting. Freshman Cameron Boozer joined Wilson on the All-ACC first team and won Player of the Year with 84 of 86 votes. He also won rookie of the year with 82 of 86 votes and was fourth in defensive player of the year voting, behind teammates Maliq Brown and Dame Sarr, who were 1-2. Brown also won Sixth Man of the Year, and Jon Scheyer was named Coach of the Year. The only individual award not sent to Durham was Most Improved Player, which went to Wake’s Juke Harris.
Despite the team’s accomplishments, Duke enters the ACC Tournament in Charlotte with all eyes on two legs. Big man Patrick Ngongba didn’t play against UNC and donned a protective boot at the half.
“Pat is a tough guy and is having some foot soreness,” Scheyer said. “We have to get him right, you know, that’s just the bottom line. I can’t give you more than that because I don’t know more than that, but his health is the primary concern.”
Junior guard Caleb Foster went down with a foot injury late in the first half and came out of halftime with a protective boot of his own.
“I’d be shocked if both were available (for the ACC Tournament),” Scheyer said. Both were later ruled out.
Duke will be the top seed and opens play on Thursday, against FSU. Duke played FSU in January, and the Seminoles only lost by four, giving the Blue Devils their closest league game other than the buzzer-beater win by the Tar Heels.
UNC, the fourth seed, also opens on Thursday, and if each team wins, we’ll get a rubber match rivalry game in the semifinals. The Tar Heels will first have to get past either No. 5 Clemson or the winner of Tuesday’s 12-13 game between Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. UNC beat all three potential foes by single digits in the regular season, two in the final eight days.
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes appears to have the support of the administration for another season, but the Deacs could certainly use a run in the tournament to remove any doubt. Wake is 16-15, 7-11 in the ACC, the worst season for the Deacs since Forbes’ first as coach, in 2020-21.
Virginia Tech is believed to be on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble. ESPN has the Hokies as one of the first four out, along with Stanford.
Virginia drew the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will open Thursday against No. 7 NC State. The Wolfpack went 1-3 against its potential foes in that leg of the bracket (Pitt, Stanford and UVA), losing to Virginia and Stanford as part of a four-game skid that ended the regular season and put them on the NCAA bubble. Prior to the ACC tourney, ESPN had the Pack as a 10-seed and one of the last four teams to avoid a trip to Dayton for the First Four. Coach Will Wade got one win in Charlotte but could have used one or two more to remove all doubt around a bid.
The final leg of the bracket is headed by No. 3 seed Miami, who opens Thursday against either No. 6 Louisville or the winner of No. 11 SMU and No. 14 Syracuse.
The ACC Tournament is never short on drama, and, as the league heads to Charlotte for this year’s edition, that’s as true as ever—even with the dominant top seed in recent memory.
“We had some adversity thrown our way, and we talked about weathering the storm,” Scheyer said. “You’re not going to go through March without having storms.”
