Duke dominating North Carolina in Durham
Halftime: Duke 47, UNC 25
No. 2 Duke, which closed as a 13.5-point favorite over rival North Carolina, leads by 22 points (!!) at the half in Durham, North Carolina. That’s five points shy of UNC’s largest deficit of the season — which it set earlier in the first half after Duke jumped out to a 40-13 lead.
“I think we’re playing really hard. Our ability to switch a lot has been great,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said on ESPN at halftime.
Blue Devils freshman Cooper Flagg leads all scorers with 13 points thus far and also has a game-high five assists and four rebounds. He has accounted for 24 of the team’s 47 points and also added two blocks and two steals.
Fellow freshman Kon Knueppel has nine points and backcourt running mate Tyrese Proctor is up to 10 points.
The big difference so far has been Duke forcing UNC into bad decisions and capitalizing. Duke has scored 11 points off nine UNC turnovers and been able to get out running in transition where it is comfortable.
Duke’s also made just about everything and poured it on in runs in that first 20 minutes. It is 5 of 11 from 3-point range with four different players making at least one shot from beyond the arc. UNC on the other hand is 3 of 11 from 3-point range and 8 of 27 from the field.
Big tweak for UNC in the second half, although it may be too late, might be more run for freshman forward Drake Powell. Powell played just nine minutes in the first half but gave UNC some good minutes limiting Flagg’s impact.
RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau and Ian Jackson will need to get going for the Tar Heels to have a shot, too. Davis is 2 of 6 from the field, Jackson 0 of 3 from the field and Cadeau 1 of 5. Cadeau also had trouble handling the ball that first half with five turnovers to just two assists.
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