Well, Zion Williamson did make a difference, just barely. In a back-and-forth contest, North Carolina came up short as Williamson tipped in his own miss with just 30 seconds left and Duke hung on to defeat the Tar Heels 74-73 in the ACC Tournament semi-finals.
UNC coach Roy Williams said Williamson put on his Superman jersey to help lead the Devils over the Heels. When Williamson could get the ball down low, he was unstoppable as the freshman finished with 31 points and 11 rebounds.
But this is Carolina-Duke, not just Carolina-Zion and the Tar Heels led the Devils 71-67 after Luke Maye drove by Williamson, scored and was fouled, completing the three-point play with 2:46 left.
(UNC Sports Information photo.)
The Heels failed to score but seemed to have it back when the ball slipped through Maye’s legs right into the hands of Duke’s Jordan Goldwire under the basket who put it in for a 72-71 Devils lead.
“He came up with a huge bucket – I don’t know how he got it,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Neither team scored on their next possessions but UNC’s Nassir Little picked up a loose ball and dunked it through with 50 seconds left to give Carolina a 73-72 lead.
That’s when Williamson scored on his own miss to give Duke the lead for good. But Carolina had its chances. UNC’s Cam Johnson, who was hot early on, missed a three from the left wing on a shot that looked like it was going to go through with 13 seconds left.
After R.J. Barrett missed a pair of free throws for Duke, Carolina had a chance at the end. Coby White couldn’t find a route to the basket so he heaved up a long two while slipping. Nonetheless it almost went in with a couple of seconds left. Little had a chance at a tip but it wasn’t close and Duke had won, avoiding a third loss to the Tar Heels this season.
“They (Duke) did a good job defensively and we didn’t have a chance to attack the basket,” Coach Williams said.
Johnson said “a couple of little plays made the difference. Our guys fought hard but we could have played better.”
In fact, the Tar Heels were probably lucky to be in it after hitting only four of 27 three-point shots.
“If you go four for 27 from three, you deserve to get beat,” Coach Williams said, adding that you can’t rely on the jumpshot. He said the Tar Heels took bad and quick shots in the first half. “You’d have thought there was a three-second shot clock,” he said.
Carolina had built a 13-point lead in the first half at 33-20, mostly behind the hot hand of Johnson, who had 16 first-half points. But Duke got some stops defensively and Williamson started to take over.
Duke went on a 24-11 run at the end of the first half to tie it 44-all going into the break.
Carolina managed just one field goal in the first seven minutes of the second half to fall behind by six at 52-46. But the Heels came up with three steals and buckets in a row to tie it and force a Duke timeout.
It went back and forth the rest of the way, ending with that final flurry over the last three minutes.
“Our season is not over,” Coach Williams said. “We didn’t play well enough to win.”
For his part, Coach K said it was “vintage ACC Duke-Carolina” and that both teams played hard and well, particularly on defense in the second half.
Both teams went multiple minutes without scoring in the second half.
Joining Williamson in double figures for Duke were Barrett, who had 14 points, and Tre Jones, who had 11. Johnson led the Tar Heels with 23, but went cold in the second half. Maye had yet another double-double as he scored 14 points and hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds. White scored 11 but missed all six of his three-point attempts.
The Tar Heels fall to 27-6 and await its NCAA Tournament bid while Duke, now 28-5, play Florida State for the ACC Tournament crown.
For more on the game, including a box score, please click here.