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Blue Devils put it away early against Heels

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No. 2 Duke dominated unranked North Carolina from the start. An early 16-0 early run set the tone in a game that the Blue Devils led by 32 points before settling for an 87-70 win in Durham. Let the Carolina coaching rumors begin. (2/01)

Turnovers hurt the Tar Heels early and often. Carolina had nine turnovers in the first half including three from point guard Eliott Cadeau before the first TV timeout. Meanwhile Duke scored on 11 of their first 13 possessions of the game.

The Blue Devils worked the lead up to 40-13 before Carolina outscored Duke 12-7 to end the first half with a 47-25 deficit.

“Our turnovers again,” said UNC coach Hubert Davis, who’s coaching seat is now on fire. “They got 19 points off of our turnovers. We can’t withstand that. Our turnovers got them going and in rhythm early.”

North Carolina played better in the second half but it was too late as Duke’s Kon Knueppel scored 13 of his game-high 22 points to keep the Tar Heels from mounting any comeback. In fact, the Blue Devils got their biggest lead of the game at 77-45 on a three-pointer by Isaiah Evans before a late Carolina surge highlighted by 10 points from freshman Drake Powell made the final sore look more respectable.

Even with Carolina’s miscues, the Tar Heels probably weren’t going to beat the superior Blue Devils on this night. For instance, Carolina started the second half going six of nine from the floor with two steals and the Tar Heels still lost ground on the scoreboard.

“They’re good, good players, and I’ve seen them all since high school. They’re playing at a high level,” Coach Davis said about Duke. “I was really proud of our fight and our perseverance in the second half. I thought we did some good things on both ends of the floor in the second half that can move us positively forward.”

Carolina’s shooting improved from 29 percent in the first half to 64 percent in the second half to end the game at 47 percent. Duke shot 53 percent for the game including 10 of 20 from beyond the arc.

Powell and RJ Davis were Carolina’s top scorers with 12 points each while Knueppel and Cooper Flagg were Duke’s top scorerrs with 22 and 21 respectively.

The Tar Heels, who don’t play again until Saturday at home against Pitt, are now 13-10 overall and 6-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Unless there is a late surge, the Tar Heels will likely have to win the ACC Tournament in order to make the NCAA Tournament.

With the win, Duke moves to 19-2 and 11-0 in the ACC while extending the Devils’ winning streak to 15 games, the longest active streak in the nation. The last time the Blue Devils won 15 straight games was at the start of the 2012-13 campaign.

Box score

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