Duke v. UNC

By John Chagaris, College AP
February 10, 2005


Hamden, CT (Durham, NC) --Even through Rashad McCants went to the hoop and cut the lead to one, North Carolina was not able to take the lead and the game. The huge key to Duke's success was that his team only had 15 turn overs.

``We were fortunate that we were able to get back and not commit too many turnovers where they had runs,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. ``We committed turnovers, but they didn't have runs where they had the numerical advantage.''

Fortunate would be an understatement, how could North Carolina with some serous time left on the clock not get off a shot? This has to be the exact same question that is being asked about Super Bowl Sunday when fans were wondering why the Eagles during the final two minutes refused to go into a no huddle offense.

``It seemed like a long time, and I was just hoping that that clock went down before they got a shot off,'' Nelson said. ``We played some great defense, and we made them try to do something that they weren't ready for.''

But a great shooting team can nine times out of ten get a shot off with in 18 seconds. Another huge key to success for the Blue Devils was their excellent free throw shooting while they only missed one out of twenty-two. The reason that the Tar Heels did not win was they were only 17-23 from the line. Duke went 10-25 from three point range while the Tar Heels went 3-14 from the same line. UNC had 8 more turnovers, 8 more rebounds, 12 more rebounds, 2 less assists, but another key fact was 13 less steals.

``They slowed us down when they got the job done on offense,'' North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. ``I mean, they spread the floor and controlled the tempo that way. And in their pressure defense, there's no question that bothered us, too.''

How can your leading scorer (Sean May) score 5 more than DUke's leadings scorer (J.J. Redick) and have their leading rebounder (Sean May) had twice the amount than Duke's (Shelden Williams).

``They're good, they're solid,'' May said. ``They don't run many traps or scrambles, they're just solid man-to-man pressure. They play better D at home just because of the fans the atmosphere they bring. They're almost as solid as you can get.''

Duke next plays Maryland on Saturday night at Maryland, tip off is at 9 pm.


~Chaggy