Miami is the only undefeated team in the ACC and the Hurricanes moved to 5-0 with a convincing 90-63 romp over No. 1 Duke. The Blue Devils loss, coupled with UNC’s 79-63 win over Georgia Tech, has the two rivals tied in the conference – but not for first place or second place but third place.
NC State is in second, a half a game ahead of Duke and North Carolina, after unexpectedly losing to Wake Forest Tuesday night.
Miami used an amazing 25-1 run midway through the first half to open things up for good. Durand Scott scored a season-high 25 points to pace the Hurricanes, and Kenny Kadji added a season-high 22. Shane Larkin finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, while Durham native Julian Gamble had 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.
“The crowd I’m sure helped them some,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “But they didn’t need much help. We expected them to be terrific, and we have to match terrific, and then you have a terrific game. …We didn’t hold our end of the bargain.”
Meanwhile in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels led by as many as 13 points in the first half and 19 points in the second half as the Tar Heels never trailed en route to a 79-63 win over Georgia Tech.
A 10-2 run midway through the first half put the Heels up 30-17. The run was highlighted by a nifty Dexter Strickland pass to James Michael McAdoo for a dunk and a three from the top of the key by Reggie Bullock.
Bullock led the Tar Heels with 17 points, including nine in the first half.
After leading 40-32 at the half, Carolina quickly got the lead up to 15 at 49-34 during the first two and a half minutes of the second half. A Strickland fastbreak layup and a Marcus Paige to Bullock fastbreak layup highlighted the 9-2 run.
It never got closer than 11 after that despite a rough patch where the Tar Heels turned the ball over five times in six possessions.
A pair of power dunks gave the Tar Heels their biggest lead at 72-53 with just over four minutes left. A Strickland steal and pass to P.J. Hairston who dunked it over a defender with a slashing motion. Then, J.P. Tokoto followed his own miss with a slam.
The Tar Heels travel to preseason league favorite NC State Saturday at 7 p.m. Miami still has to travel to State (Feb. 2) while the Hurricanes still have to host UNC (Feb. 9) and travel to Duke (March 2).