Tag: Duke UNC Rivalry

North Carolina’s RJ Davis coming back for a fifth year? One report says yes

Another year of RJ Davis in Chapel Hill? Say it ain’t so! One CBS writer says the All-American has already made up his mind.

Duke fans might have accidentally got two pieces of bad news in quick succession on Tuesday afternoon.

North Carolina guard Seth Trimble announced he’d withdrawn himself from the transfer portal. In response to the news, CBS senior writer Matt Norlander said that All-American guard RJ Davis is expected to make the same decision to stay in the coming days.

Davis started 118 games across the last four years for the Tar Heels, but with the one-year extension due to COVID-19, he could still exercise a fifth year if he wants. He’s yet to officially say he’ll be back in 2024-25, but Norlander said the decision’s already been made.

The First Team All-American and ACC Player of the Year last season, Davis averaged 21.2 points per game along with 3.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists. The Blue Devils managed to hold him in check, however, as he averaged 13.0 points per game and shot 34.6% from the floor against Duke.

If he’d decided to forgo his extra year for the NBA, all four double-digit scorers from last year’s UNC team would leave the program this offseason. Armando Bacot and Cormac Ryan are already out of eligibility, and Harrison Ingram declared for the NBA draft.

Davis’s official announcement is expected by the end of this week.

UNC’s Seth Trimble withdraws from transfer portal, will return to Chapel Hill

UNC will lose at least three starters from the 2023-24 season, but the Tar Heels are no longer losing sophomore Seth Trimble.

Duke fans hoping for a complete depletion in Chapel Hill this offseason received some bad news on Tuesday.

Tar Heels guard Seth Trimble announced that he’d withdrawn his name from the transfer portal, confirming he would return to North Carolina for the 2024-25 season.

As a sophomore, Trimble averaged 17.1 minutes per game across his 35 appearances. He scored 5.2 points per game, shooting 47.0% from the floor and 41.9% from beyond the arc.

North Carolina still loses a lot of talent for the 2024-25 season. Longtime center Armando Bacot is out of eligibility after a half-decade career, as is transfer guard Cormac Ryan. Harrison Ingram declared for the NBA draft, and All-American RJ Davis has yet to officially announce whether he’ll stick around for next season.

Should Davis leave, even with Trimble coming back, that’d be 59.4 points per game out the window between those four names alone.

North Carolina starter Harrison Ingram declares for the NBA draft

Harrison Ingram, who averaged 17.5 points and recorded two double-doubles against Duke last year, won’t return to Chapel Hill.

North Carolina starter Harrison Ingram won’t return to Chapel Hill next season.

The 6-foot-7 forward announced through social media on Saturday that he would be declaring for the NBA draft.

Ingram averaged 17.5 points and 11.5 rebounds against Duke last season, recording a double-double in both games. He likely irked Blue Devils fans the most in the first game when he made five of his nine 3-point attempts in a nine-point victory.

For the season, Ingram averaged 12.2 points and 8.8 rebounds. It was his first season playing for the Tar Heels after he started his career with Stanford.

With Ingram leaving and Armando Bacot and Cormac Ryan both out of eligibility, the UNC starting five will be more than 50% depleted this offseason. Hubert Davis still awaits the decision, at least publicly, of All-American RJ Davis to see if he’s losing a fourth starter.

Duke softball comes in No. 3 in USA TODAY Sports/NFCA Coaches Poll

The Blue Devils swept North Carolina to extend its winning streak to eight games over the weekend, and Duke now trails just two Big 12 powerhouses in the USA TODAY Sports/NFCA Coaches Poll.

The Duke softball team has a 33-3 record through nine weeks this season, and their eight straight wins have them No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/NFCA Coaches Poll.

The Blue Devils swept Virginia Tech, who previously hadn’t lost a conference game, and North Carolina over the past two weekends. Duke outscored UNC 20-5 over the three-game series, and sophomore pitcher Cassidy Curd was named ACC Pitcher of the Week after she struck out 12 Tar Heels in five shutout innings on Saturday.

The Blue Devils now trail just Oklahoma and Texas in the Coaches Poll. The Sooners, who have won the past three national championships and beat Duke in the season opener, are 35-3, but the 31-6 Longhorns handed them two straight losses over the weekend to take the rivalry series.

Texas’ two wins over Oklahoma actually boosted Duke up to first in the Softball America rankings released on Monday, the first time in school history that the Blue Devils have ever summited a national ranking.

Duke’s Cassidy Curd named ACC Pitcher of the Week after North Carolina sweep

Duke sophomore Cassidy Curd struck out 19 batters across 9.1 innings, including a five-inning shutout of UNC, en route to her second ACC Pitcher of the Week honor of the season.

Duke sophomore Cassidy Curd was named ACC Pitcher of the Week for the second time after 9.1 stellar innings against Charlotte and North Carolina.

Curd started her week with 4.1 scoreless innings against the 49ers on Wednesday, striking out seven batters and only allowing two hits and a walk. She earned the win for her efforts in the 6-1 triumph.

Three days later, in the second game of a weekend sweep of the Tar Heels, Curd struck out 12 UNC batters in just five innings. She surrendered two hits and a walk again, and the Tar Heels got shut out in the 8-0 win.

Curd leads the nation with 11.4 strikeouts per seven innings, and her average of 3.73 hits per seven innings is the seventh-fewest of any pitcher in the country. She has an ERA of 1.39 and a 7-2 record.

Curd was previously named ACC Pitcher of the Week in early March after 12 combined shutout innings against Elon and South Dakota State when she struck out 18 batters and gave up a single hit. Teammate Jala Wright has also been named ACC Pitcher of the Week twice.

Duke softball sweeps UNC after Claire Davidson’s two-home run game

Claire Davidson blasted two home runs in the first four innings on Sunday night as the Blue Devils cemented a dominant sweep over North Carolina.

No. 2 Duke softball took down North Carolina for a third straight time on Sunday night, a 6-1 victory fueled by two early home runs from senior Claire Davidson.

Sporting some new all-white uniforms for the series finale, Davidson wasted no time in the Blue Devils’ second at-bat of the game. With the sun low in the Durham sky, she swiped at a low pitch from UNC’s Kenna Raye Dark and blasted a line drive into right-center field.

The ball carried just far enough, bounding harmlessly into the grassy hill over the wall for a solo shot.

The two North Carolina teams couldn’t generate any more offense for the next three innings, but in the bottom of the fourth, strode back to the batter’s box with runners on first and second with two outs on the board. Facing down Dark for the third time of the day, the Duke senior smashed another fly ball to right-center field, landing no more than 30 feet away from her first blast, for a three-run homer.

Sophomore Aminah Vega followed up with a solo shot three pitches later, pulling a fly ball down the right field side for a towering homer and breaking the game apart.

Dark didn’t throw another pitch.

The two homers and four RBIs added to what has been a seismic senior season from Davidson, who now leads the Blue Devils with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs so far this season.

Vega, who won NCAA Player of the Week last week, is second on the roster in both metrics with nine home runs and 39 RBIs.

In the circle, a trio of Duke pitchers lived up to their usual form from the season thus far. Dani Drogemuller, the starter, got the game ball for the first 3.1 innings and allowed six hits, but she never allowed a run and struck out two batters. Star senior Jala Wright surrendered the lone run of the game in her 1.1 innings of work before Lillie Walker tallied the last seven outs.

Walker, who picked up her eighth win of the season, only allowed one hit. One year after she put up a 1.20 ERA in 28 appearances, the senior currently sports an ERA of 0.90 through her first 17 outings of this campaign.

The win put the finishing touches on a dominant three-game series for the Blue Devils. Duke allowed just five runs across 19 innings and outscored the Tar Heels 20-5, and the Blue Devils have now won 11 straight games over their in-state rival.

Duke has now won eight straight games and 12 of its past 13, and the Blue Devils are 33-3 on the season. They spring back into action with a Tuesday evening game against East Carolina before a Wednesday game against Campbell.

Duke softball clinches series against North Carolina with blowout mercy-rule win

Cassidy Curd struck out a career-high 12 batters in five innings on Saturday as the Blue Devils beat UNC by the run rule to clich the rivalry series.

No. 2 Duke softball earned the series-clinching win against North Carolina in emphatic fashion on Saturday, winning by mercy rule after a six-run first inning.

The Blue Devils chased UNC starter Bailey McCachren from the mound after just a single out. Duke drew two walks and knocked a single through to load the bases before McCachren hit Kelly Torres with a pitch to plate the first run of the game.

In the very next at-bat, Blue Devils senior Francesca Frelick doubled to right to bring home two more. Just like that, McCachren’s day was over. However, Tar Heels reliever Talia Hannappel somehow got off to an even worse start. With two runners still aboard, Duke’s Sara Goddard pulled a deep line drive over the wall for a three-run homer.

The ball pinged harmlessly off a flagpole over the left-field barrier, a vibrating announcing of Duke’s dominant start.

If North Carolina didn’t have its best stuff in the circle on Saturday, Duke pitcher Cassidy Curd certainly did. The sophomore struck out two batters in the first, second, and third innings each before she fanned each of the last six batters she faced, setting a new career-high with 12 strikeouts.

Curd only needed five innings of work for the new personal best, too, as the Blue Devils added a run in the second and fourth innings to make it an 8-0 ball game, invoking the run rule to clinch the series early.

The left-handed pitcher blew a 68-mile-per-hour pitch by UNC’s Carsyn Snead for the game’s last out. She took off her pitcher’s mask as the sold-out Duke crowd greeted her effort with a standing ovation.

Curd allowed just two hits for the day, and no North Carolina baserunners reached third base.

The Blue Devils, now 32-3 on the season and riding a seven-game win streak, get a chance at the sweep on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.

Duke softball takes first game against UNC for 100th conference win

The Blue Devils took game one from the Tar Heels on Friday for their 31st win of the season and their 100th conference win in program history.

Duke softball accomplished three major things on Friday night.

First and foremost, the Blue Devils beat North Carolina. No matter the sport, a victory over the Tar Heels always satisfies. Duke took down UNC for a 6-4 series-opening win at Duke Softball Stadium.

The victory also gave Duke its sixth win in a row, its 31st of the season, and its 100th all-time conference win in program history.

The Blue Devils entered the game with all the momentum after a sweep of Virginia Tech, previously unbeaten in conference play, last weekend.

Duke picked up where it left off in the circle with star senior Jala Wright opening the game with four scoreless frames, striking out five batters over that frame.

UNC didn’t go down without fights. The Tar Heels got a runner to third base in each of the first three innings, but Wright struck out the final batter in the first and third and forced a harmless groundout in the second to keep her slate clean.

The Blue Devils offense took a second to get going, but Duke got off the ground in the bottom of the third. After a single and a walk in the first two at-bats of the inning, second baseman Aminah Vega singled home the first run of the game.

Vega got the opening RBI fresh off of her NCAA Player of the Week honors when she brought home nine runs in three games against the Hokies.

Two batters later, Kelly Torres singled home two more runs to give the Blue Devils some breathing room.

The Tar Heels finally got a hold on Wright in the fifth inning when their first two batters walked and singled, putting runners on the corners. A sacrifice fly and a wild pitch drove home two runs, but the Duke pitcher steadied herself to retire the last two batters of the frame.

Wright finished the game with seven strikeouts, six hits, and two earned runs in 5.2 innings en route to her 12th win of the year. She set a personal mark, too, with her 350th career strikeout to record the first out of the sixth inning.

The Blue Devils answered quickly on the offensive end, too. With the lead now one, Francesca Frelick strode to the plate with nobody aboard and two outs and promptly did this.

The towering no-doubter pushed the lead back to two, but senior star Claire Davidson decided that she wanted a little more insurance in the following inning.

The two-run bomb was Davidson’s 11th home run of the season, three more than any other player on the team, and gave her a team-leading 42 RBIs on the season.

The Blue Devils coasted from there, allowing two runs in the top of the seventh when UNC needed at least four to extend the game.

The second game of the series starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

No. 2 Duke softball welcomes rival UNC into town for weekend series

Duke has won 30 of its first 33 games so far in 2024, and the No. 2 Blue Devils put their stellar record on the line against rival UNC.

No. 2 Duke softball hosts rival North Carolina for a three-game series in Durham beginning on Friday.

The Blue Devils, 30-3 on the season, enter the series against the Tar Heels on a five-game winning streak after they swept Virginia Tech last weekend. The Hokies had previously not lost a conference game.

Aminah Vega was named ACC Player of the Week and NCAA Player of the Week after she hit three home runs and three doubles to drive in nine runs against the Hokies. She and Claire Davidson lead a Duke offense batting .340 as a team so far this season.

In the circle, senior pitcher Jala Wright stole the headlines early in the season for justifiable reason. The two-time ACC Pitcher of the Week allowed three earned runs in her first 59.1 innings of the season, and she has an 11-0 record and an ERA of 0.98 and 83 strikeouts through her first 16 appearances. However, teammate Lillie Walker is hot on her tail with an ERA of 0.99 and a 7-1 record in 15 relief appearances.

UNC, for its part, is 24-10 on the season. The Tar Heels lost a midweek game to UNC Wilmington on Wednesday but took the series against both Notre Dame and Georgia Tech over the last two weekends.

The three-game series is also Duke’s Strike Out Cancer Weekend with funds raised for the Duke Cancer Institute and Duke Children’s Hospital throughout the weekend.

The first two games of the series will be broadcast on ACCNX while Sunday’s series finale, which begins at 7 p.m., will broadcast on ACC Network.

Friday’s first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

‘He’s 27’: Duke signee Isaiah Evans takes a swipe at UNC’s Cormac Ryan

During media sessions for the McDonald’s All-American Game, Duke signee Isaiah Evans reminded some future Tar Heels how old Cormac Ryan really is.

Isaiah Evans won’t need any practice adopting the Duke-North Carolina rivalry.

The five-star Duke signee, who was named North Carolina’s Mr. Basketball for the second straight year this season, turned heads by jawing some fans in Tar Heels merch at one of his high school games.

Earlier this week, during media sessions for the McDonald’s All-American Game, it was Cormac Ryan.

Ryan, a fifth-year senior and a Tar Heels starter this season, scored 31 points and made six 3-pointers in the regular-season finale at Cameron Indoor Stadium this season. He’s also 25 years old, having begun his playing career with Stanford in the 2018-19 season, a detail Evans does not forget.

In a short social media clip shared earlier this week, UNC commit Drake Powell tried to remind Evans of Ryan’s performance. The future Blue Devil had none of it.

“Cormac Ryan, is he not a pro in your eyes?” Powell asked.

“He’s 27, bro, that’s what he is,” Evans responded quickly.

Evans and Flagg will get the chance to square off with Powell, UNC commit Ian Jackson, and the Tar Heels next season.