Tag: UNC vs. Duke

Tyler Hansbrough lists most annoying Duke players

The UNC-Duke basketball rivalry dates back to the last century. Tar Heel legend Tyler Hansbrough talks about Duke’s most annoying guys.

The entire NCAA Tournament field has already been announced for the men and the women. Some First Four teams (hello, UVA) have proven they didn’t belong. Others (Grambling State) provided exciting basketball in their first trip to the Big Dance.

The real fun starts on Thursday as sports fanatics across the country watch as their brackets hang on or get busted. Who will be the Cinderella teams? Will the favorites advance to the final?

One of the NCAA Tournament favorites is North Carolina, which enters with a 27-7 record as the West’s top seed. The Tar Heels built an eight-game win streak, which included completing the season sweep of Duke, before falling to NC State in the ACC Tournament final.

Speaking of the Duke, which is seeded fourth in the South Region, one of the greatest players to don a UNC uniform gave his four most annoying Blue Devils in a recent interview with FanDuel.

“JJ Redick, just because he was so good,” Tyler Hansbrough said during a recent interview on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back.” “I think so many people hated him in college, he kind of egged it on a little bit. I will put him up there. Then you got to go with Christian Laettner. Seems like he’s the poster boy for Duke. You could say Grayson Allen because of his tripping. Gerald Henderson is probably up there. Me and Gerald are pretty good friends now, but back in the day, there was a lot of hatred because of “that” incident.”

It’s hard to argue with Psycho T’s list, particularly his Laettner and Allen choices. Both are talented players, with Allen still playing in the NBA for the Phoenix Suns, but easy to be hated by the Tar Heel faithful.

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UNC named a weekend winner by USA TODAY

The UNC men’s basketball team’s 5-point win over Duke on Saturday was named one of USA TODAY’s top weekend college basketball games.

A few college basketball teams punched their NCAA Tournament tickets over the weekend, while several others won big rivalry matchups and locked up the top seeds in their respective conference tournaments.

North Carolina happened to be one of those programs.

The Tar Heels gained a two-for-one special on Saturday night: beating archrival Duke, 84-79 – in Cameron Indoor Stadium – while clinching their first outright ACC regular-season championship since 2016.

UNC is playing its best basketball at the right time. While an ACC Tournament championship is likely the next thing on players and coaches’ minds, North Carolina is chasing a greater prize.

With the Tar Heels’ massive win Saturday, it was named USA Today’s top Weekend Winner.

“In what will go down in the lore of the rivalry as the Cormac Ryan game, UNC led wire-to-wire and staved off Duke’s late rally, capping the night by waving goodbye to the Cameron Indoor Stadium crowd,” USA TODAY sportswriter Eddie Timanis said. “Ryan finished with a career-high 31 points, keying the Tar Heels’ first-half surge with a barrage of three-pointers and sealing the deal with the clinching free throws in the final minute. That win, the biggest of the weekend, keeps the Tar Heels in the mix for a No. 1 NCAA regional seed with the major conference tournaments on deck this week.”

That’s something we’re not talking about a lot: North Carolina improving its odds for a top-4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Winning the ACC Tournament title will likely solidify UNC’s chances for a 1 seed.

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What happened the last time UNC swept Duke?

It’s not very often that UNC or Duke sweep each other in basketball. The Tar Heels completed this year’s sweep on Saturday night in Durham.

There’s not many years where either UNC or Duke sweep the season basketball series, but it’s happened in each of the past two seasons.

The Blue Devils won both matchups last year en route to the ACC Tournament championship, essentially ending North Carolina’s season with the second of two wins.

It was North Carolina’s turn to sweep this year, beating the Blue Devils by a 84-79 mark on Saturday to complete the feat. The Tar Heels largely dominated both matchups this year, leading for all but 16 seconds and proving they were – undoubtedly – the ACC’s best team.

The last time UNC swept the season series was in the 2020-2021 campaign, which was legendary head coach Roy Williams’ final season.

What exactly happened this year? Cole Anthony was the main star, but he played too much iso ball. North Carolina started the year ranked, but issues were exposed in a big loss to Ohio State.

UNC ended up winning a couple ACC Tournament games and made the NCAA Tournament, but was blown out by Wisconsin in its first-round matchup.

Both the Tar Heels and Blue Devils will make the NCAA Tournament this year, but there’s no doubt UNC is the ACC Tournament favorite. North Carolina may have very well played its way back into national title contention, too, thanks to its recent hot stretch of six consecutive wins.

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Stat shows just how much UNC dominated two matchups against Duke

Most UNC-Duke basketball games are close and sport several lead changes. Such was not the case this year, with UNC dominating.

In most years, UNC and Duke play each other pretty close in basketball games. This happens regardless of how each team is playing in a given season.

Last year, Duke swept the Tar Heels in one of the more forgettable UNC basketball seasons of late. The Blue Devils lost to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament, which was a solid consolation prize, but still not enough to deal with the sting of missing the Big Dance.

This year, it was North Carolina’s turn to sweep its archrival. Cormac Ryan forever etched his name into the Tobacco Road rivalry with a career-high 31 points on Saturday, March 9, helping his team beat Duke by an 84-79 mark to clinch the ACC Regular Season Title.

Not only did UNC largely dominate the Blue Devils last night, but for the rivalry series all season.

Outside of Kyle Filipowski’s bucket 20 seconds into the Feb. 3 installation of North Carolina-Duke, the Tar Heels trailed in Tobacco Road Rivalry for all of 16 seconds this season.

You read that right – 16 seconds. That’s just more than half of a collegiate shot clock possession, which can last no longer than 30 seconds.

It’s not uncommon to hold your breath, yell at the TV and doubt whether UNC can hold a lead.

Luckily, Tar Heel fans didn’t have to do that a lot this season.

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WATCH: UNC basketball players celebrate Duke sweep on Franklin Street

The UNC men’s basketball team wasted no time after sweeping Duke on Saturday night, hopping on the team bus and heading to Franklin Street.

When you’re UNC celebrating a massive rivalry win, what do you do? Particularly when that win comes against Duke – in Durham – for the regular-season sweep and your first outright ACC regular-season title since 2016?

You head to Franklin Street, of course!

If you’re not familiar with Chapel Hill’s layout, Franklin Street is “the” street. It has the historic dining spots, like Top of the Hill and Four Corners, plus the legendary He’s Not Here bar.

Not too long after students and other UNC fans rushed Franklin Street, the team bus arrived for the ultimate celebration.

Zayden High was first off the bus with a massive celebration roar. Harrison Ingram followed, then everyone else slowly climbed off the bus.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4Uilh7spDK/

The effect of Saturday’s 94-89 victory will be felt throughout Chapel Hill for years to come. I’m sure Tar Heel players and coaches are still basking in the massive win, but their attention will shortly turn to Thursday’s ACC quarterfinal matchup, where North Carolina will face the winner of the Virginia Tech-Florida State game.

If you ever get the chance to experience a Franklin Street celebration, you have to go. It’s THE college town in North Carolina.

Hopefully a month from today, we’ll be celebrating an NCAA Championship.

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Tar Heels make sizable jump in latest NET rankings after sweeping Duke

Beating Duke has its perks. For the UNC men’s basketball team, it boosted them a few spots in the latest installation of NET rankings.

The day is Sunday, March 10, and all is well in Tar Heel Nation.

North Carolina beat archrival Duke last night, 84-79, to sweep the regular-season series and clinch the ACC regular-season title. This was UNC’s first time sweeping the twice-annual matchup since 2020-2021 and its first outright regular-season title since the 2015-2016 season.

Cormac Ryan forever etched his name in the Tar Heels-Blue Devils rivalry, erupting for a career-high 31 points in the win. Kyle Filipowski became public enemy No. 1 at UNC by tripping Harrison Ingram and giving many flashbacks to the Grayson Allen years.

North Carolina players taunted the obnoxious Cameron Crazies afterward and then headed to Franklin Street to celebrate with the Tar Heel faithful. Another consequence emerged slightly later: UNC climbed three spots to seventh in the latest NET rankings.

If the NCAA Tournament was seeded solely based on NET numbers, North Carolina would be a 2 seed. The Tar Heels are playing every bit like a top seed right now, though, winning six straight games and rounding into tournament form.

With projected 1 seed Arizona losing Saturday night to Southern Cal, you could make a strong case for UNC moving up to a top seed – while the Wildcats move down to a two.

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Duke player’s ‘plan’ vs. UNC goes wrong this season

UNC largely dominated Duke on Saturday night in an 84-79 victory, spoiling the plans of many Blue Devil players and fans in the process.

If you’re a UNC basketball player, there’s no better feeling than suiting up against your greatest archrival – Duke.

The same thing can be said for the Blue Devils, who undoubtedly circle both Tar Heel matchups on the calendar.

This rivalry has been around since the early 1900s, meaning there is no shortage of big moments or dramatic players. Trash talk is imminent during rivalry week: Guys seemingly always guarantee little wins or call the other school its little brother.

One recent trash talk example didn’t necessarily work out for one Duke player. Jared McCain, the star Blue Devil guard who has gained national attention for wearing painted fingernails, said his plan all season was to sweep UNC.

When an opposing player talks about how excited he to beat North Carolina – and it doesn’t work out – there’s a little extra sense of gratification in Tar Heel Nation. McCain isn’t anywhere close to the true villain status of Kyle Filipowski, but it still feels nice knowing his plan didn’t work out.

The Tar Heels’ plan was to beat Duke on Saturday night in Cameroon Indoor Stadium, which worked to a T. Not only was it a massive rivalry victory (84-79) that clinched a regular-season sweep – just a year after getting swept, but it also clinched UNC’s first outright regular-season ACC title since 2016.

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Tar Heels sweep Duke, clinch ACC regular-season title behind Cormac Ryan’s huge night

It’s always a sweet night when UNC beats Duke. The Tar Heels did that Saturday – IN Durham – and clinched the ACC Regular Season title.

For the first time since 2019, the UNC men’s basketball team clinched the regular-season ACC Title outright.

And to make it sweeter, they did so against Duke – inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Behind a career performance for Cormac Ryan, who forever etched his name into the storied Tobacco Road Rivalry with a 31-point performance, North Carolina downed the hated Blue Devils by an 84-79 mark.

After getting swept last year by Duke, the Tar Heels (27-6, 18-3) won both matchups this season – and in dominant fashion. Outside of the first 36 seconds of the Feb. 3 UNC-Duke battle, North Carolina NEVER trailed in the rivalry series this year.

Just like Round One, the Tar Heels bolted out to a massive lead in the first half that stretched to as many as 15 points. Cormac Ryan hit a couple of quick threes and played a consistent game throughout, leading all scorers with 31 points.

The Blue Devils then began to climb back in during the second, just like every rivalry clash. They came out of the locker room firing and took advantage of several UNC defensive lapses, particularly behind the play of tripster Kyle Filipowski.

North Carolina made the necessary adjustments and started making shots, such as Elliot Cadeau’s heave with the shot clock expiring late in the game. Tar Heel Nation gritted its teeth as Duke made things interesting in the final seconds, but North Carolina wasn’t going to be denied a chance to finish the sweep of its biggest rival – IN Durham.

The final buzzer sounded, the Tar Heels taunted the Cameron Crazies and walked off the floor ACC Champions.

LOOK: Kyle Filipowski channels inner Grayson Allen with trip during UNC-Duke game

Duke standout Kyle Filipowski appeared to trip Harrison Ingram during Saturday’s game against the UNC Basketball program.

Kyle Filipowski was the talk of college basketball a few weeks ago when it looked like he was hurt during a court storm following Duke’s loss at Wake Forest. 

Since then, he returned and hasn’t missed a game as Duke is playing some of their best basketball of the season. But it looks like he will be in the news again, well maybe.

During the first half of Saturday’s game against North Carolina, Filipowski went to the floor and appeared to trip Harrison Ingram as he was running down the floor. There was no foul called and no review of the play.

Watch the play here:

Duke went on a mini-run to cut into UNC’s double-digit lead at the time.

Meanwhile, Ingram tried to plead with the refs during a timeout but it was too late. The two teams are playing with the Atlantic Coast Conference title on the line. A UNC win means it earns the title outright. A Duke win means the two teams share it.

It also has implications on ACC Tournament seeding next week in Washington D.C.

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Duke guard ruled out for rematch against UNC

Duke basketball guard Caleb Foster will miss Saturday’s rematch against the Tar Heels with a lower leg injury.

The North Carolina and Duke rivalry continues on Saturday night in Durham with the Blue Devils looking to win a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title. On the other side, North Carolina is hoping to win the title outright with a win and sweep their hated rival.

When the two teams do hit the court on Saturday night, Duke will be without a talented freshman guard.

Head coach John Scheyer ruled out freshman Caleb Foster for the game as he continues to deal with a lower leg injury. Foster hurt his right leg in the Blue Devils’ loss to Wake Forest two weeks back and has been sidelined since.

“He can’t go tomorrow,” said Scheyer during his press conference ahead of the game. “Yeah, so, it’s not there yet.”

Foster has missed the last three games and has been in a walking boot dealing with the injury.

The freshman is averaging 7.7 points per game and shot 40 percent from the three-point line this season. He played 19 minutes coming off the bench in the first game between the two teams.

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