Tar Heels playing for fourth place Saturday against Duke

Roy Williams.
Roy Williams.

The Tar Heels, after an impressive win at Georgia Tech, still have a chance to make it into the top four of the ACC with a game left at home vs. Duke.

The Blue Devils have been playing better than the Tar Heels since that 92-90 Carolina loss at Duke a couple of weeks ago. But this game should give the Heels some confidence going into the regular season finale.

Carolina has lacked an outside shooting alternative to Marcus Paige. But freshman Joel Berry, who was injured part of the season, hit three triples and scored a season-high 15 points.

If he can build on that, the Tar Heels will be a tough out in the ACC and NCAA tournaments. If, however, his shooting falters and Brice Johnson can’t be consistent (he was one of nine in this game after scoring 22 the game before), then the Tar Heels will have early exits.

UNC is chasing Louisville for the fourth spot in the league. If Carolina beats Duke and Louisville loses its final two games to Virginia and Notre Dame, ranked first and third in the league, the Heels will get the fourth spot. Even if Louisville beats Notre Dame but loses to Virginia, the Tar Heels will win the tie-breaker for fourth going into the ACC tourney. The big “if” is if Carolina beats Duke.

Williams said his Tar Heels, now 21-9 and 11-6 in the ACC, are playing hard. “If we get beat it won’t be because of a letdown,” he said. “We won a basketball game tonight and we’ve got a big one coming up.”

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