No. 7 Duke Falls to No. 3 North Carolina, 93-84

Saturday, February 3

Chapel Hill, N.C.

6:30 p.m.

Duke University

16-5,7-3ACC

North Carolina

18-4,10-1ACC

Duke

North Carolina

No. 7 Duke Falls to No. 3 North Carolina, 93-84

2/3/2024 9:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Duke Quotes (PDF)Coach Scheyer Presser Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Three Blue Devils finished with at least 20 points, but No. 7 Duke dropped a rivalry matchup at No. 3 North Carolina, 93-84, on Saturday evening. Jared McCain led the team with 23 points and was joined by Kyle Filipowski, Jeremy Roach and Mark Mitchell in double-figures, with 22, 20 and 11, respectively. McCain grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, logging his second career double-double and matching his career-high for boards.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Kyle Filipowski scored on Duke's opening possession and Jeremy Roach joined his teammate in the scoring column shortly after, tying the score at 4-4. The Tar Heels took the early lead, 10-4, after a fastbreak layup three minutes into the contest. The hosts remained ahead, 13-8, at the first timeout of the evening and took their largest lead so far, 18-12, at the 12-minute mark.
A fast-break three-pointer from Roach narrowed Duke's deficit to one, 20-19, following a defensive stop. Another long ball gave the senior 10 points and tied the score, 22-22 – which remained the score at the second media timeout of the half, taken with 7:33 on the clock. A fadeaway jumper by Filipowski made it a 30-26 ballgame, in favor of the Tar Heels, as the clock ticked under five minutes in the first half.
Two free throws by North Carolina out of the final timeout of the opening frame made it 36-28 and the first double-digit lead of the game was established on the Tar Heels' next trip down the floor. Jared McCain quickly responded with a layup and then drilled a step-back three-pointer on Duke's next possession. North Carolina scored the final five points of the frame and took a 45-35 lead into the break.
McCain moved into double-figures shortly into the second half with a driving layup. Two free throws by Mark Mitchell pulled Duke within eight, 50-42. McCain then connected on another runner, giving the freshman 15 points.
Duke made four straight shots, capped by a Mitchell dunk, to draw within 10, 65-55. An offensive rebound by McCain gave the freshman his second career double-double and led to a Filipowski layup with 10 minutes remaining. A three-pointer by Filipowski and a mid-range jumper from Roach edged Duke closer, 72-64, at the eight-minute mark.
Duke battled back to within eight, 85-77, with just under 90 seconds remaining. The hosts held serve at the free throw line, however, finishing off the 93-84 win.

NOTES

Saturday marked the 261st all-time meeting between the two teams and 49th game in the series with both teams ranked inside the top-10.
Three different Blue Devils finished with at least 20 points for the first time since Feb. 26, 2022, when Mark Williams, Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin all did so at Syracuse.
The Blue Devils shot 50.7% from the field (35-of-69), making more than half of their shots for the ninth time this season.
Duke's 54 points in the paint match the second-most by the Blue Devils this season and the highest total in their ACC contests.
Jared McCain tallied a team-high 23 total points, one off his career-high of 24, while also grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds. The double-double is McCain's second of his career, and he now has six 20-point games as a freshman.
McCain has now grabbed at least 10 rebounds in back-to-back games, and for the fourth time this season.
Kyle Filipowski added 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting for his eighth outing scoring 20 or more. The sophomore also grabbed five rebounds – his 19th game this season with at least five boards.
Jeremy Roach scored 10 first-half points en route to a total of 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting – his third game this season and 11th of his career with 20 points or better. The senior captain has scored at least 10 points in four of his last five games played and is averaging 14.8 points in conference play this season.
Mark Mitchell rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring with 11 points on 4-of-6 from the field. The sophomore also grabbed seven rebounds, second-most on the team.

QUOTES

"First, you have to congratulate North Carolina. They played a great game. The game that [Harrison] Ingram and [Armando] Bacot had, 46 points and 23 rebounds between the two of them, they were great. Thought their defense bothered us in the first half. The main story for me was the loose balls. As you look throughout the game, they were hungrier to get them. And it turned into – I'll have to go back and watch the film to see – but I bet close to 15, maybe even 20, points. You have to give them credit for that. They have a really good team. They play really well together. Their defense is terrific. And still, we score 84 points. We can score. Our thing was getting stops tonight, which we just could not do. But we didn't compete to the level that you need to, to have a chance to beat this team tonight. That's what I'm disappointed about. Hats off to them, they were terrific, they're really good. I think they're as good as anybody. We have to learn from this quickly, make no excuses, get back to work. And now there's the second half of ACC play to go. But tonight was not good enough for me, for our program, for our team." - head coach Jon Scheyer
"They out-competed us, for sure. They got those 50-50 balls and it translated. [Cormac] Ryan hit the three in the corner, it felt like they hit a three every time we didn't get a loose ball. We didn't compete. That's what it came down to." - freshman guard Jared McCain

UP NEXT

No. 7 Duke (16-5, 7-3 ACC) returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday, Feb. 7, taking on Notre Dame (7-15, 2-9 ACC). The game is scheduled for 9 p.m., airing on ACC Network.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMBB".

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