No. 2 Duke Sweeps North Carolina, Wins ACC Title

Saturday, March 8

Chapel Hill, N.C.

6:30 p.m.

Duke University

28-3,19-1ACC

North Carolina

20-12,13-7ACC

Duke

North Carolina

No. 2 Duke Sweeps North Carolina, Wins ACC Title

3/8/2025 9:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Duke Quotes (PDF)Coach Scheyer Presser Highlights ACC Tournament Bracket (PDF)Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 2 Duke defeated North Carolina, 82-69, and secured the ACC regular-season title on Saturday, March 8. The Blue Devils (28-3, 19-1 ACC) used an extended 22-5 run in the second half to grab control of the contest, and swept the Tar Heels (20-12, 13-7 ACC) for the second time under head coach Jon Scheyer.

Kon Knueppel led four Blue Devils in double-figures, scoring 17 on 7-of-10 (.700) shooting from the field. The freshman was joined in double-figures by his classmate Cooper Flagg, who scored 15, while junior Tyrese Proctor and graduate Sion James scored 16 apiece.

With the win, Duke finished as regular-season champions of the ACC, the 21st time the Blue Devils have earned at least a share of the regular-season title. Duke will enter the upcoming ACC Tournament as the top seed and play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 13, after earning a double-bye.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Kon Knueppel drained a contested baseline jumper with the shot clock expiring to open the scoring on the first possession of the night. Cooper Flagg followed with a three-pointer on the next trip down the court, putting the Blue Devils in front, 5-0, early.
Sion James' fastbreak layup gave Duke an 8-2 edge after three minutes of play. Two free throws by North Carolina pulled the hosts within one, 8-7, out of the first media break of the game. Following a Tar Heel three-pointer, Knueppel answered with a triple of his own, keeping the Blue Devils in front by multiple possessions, 14-10.
The freshman got a friendly roll for his second consecutive three-pointer and Tyrese Proctor followed with a make from deep to make it a six-point advantage, 20-14. Proctor's second three-pointer gave Duke its first double-digit lead, 29-19, with 10 minutes on the clock.
Proctor scored eight straight, giving him 10 points, and Isaiah Evans followed with three free throws to send Duke into the under-eight timeout with a 15-point lead, 36-21. An extended 14-2 run by North Carolina pulled the margin to just one, 41-40, with just under two minutes before halftime. James stopped the run, with two free throws, at the 1:33 mark.
Duke remained in front by a point at the intermission but North Carolina knotted the score at 45 following a deep three-pointer. The Tar Heels claimed their first lead, 48-45, and inched in front by five, 52-47, triggering a Duke timeout with 17:34 on the clock.
North Carolina remained in front by two possessions as the clock ticked under 13 minutes. A contested layup by James, followed by a put-back dunk from Flagg, narrowed the deficit to just two, 59-57, at the under-12 break.
Two makes from the charity stripe by Flagg leveled the score at 59 with 11:27 remaining. A layup by Knueppel, off a back-door pass from Maliq Brown, put the Blue Devils back in the lead. Duke's scoring run reached 12 points with a Brown slam and forced a North Carolina timeout.
Brown swished home a three-pointer, building a seven-point advantage for Duke, 67-61, with just over eight minutes on the timer. Five quick points from Knueppel expanded the lead back to nine, 73-64, as the clock moved under six minutes. Another triple from Brown helped Duke maintain its double-digit lead, 78-67, at the final media timeout of the game.

NOTES

With the win, Duke claimed the ACC regular-season title, its first outright regular-season championship under head coach Jon Scheyer.
The Blue Devils have now earned at least a share of 21 ACC regular-season titles.
Duke will enter the upcoming ACC Tournament as the top seed and will open play in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, March 13.
Duke picked up its 28th win of the season, the most in a season under Scheyer. The Blue Devils had previously won 27 in each of the first two campaigns with Scheyer at the helm of the program.
The 28 regular-season wins are the most since Duke won 28 in the 2014-15 regular season.
Duke ended the ACC slate with a plus-434 point differential, the largest by a power-conference team in league play since Kentucky in 1953-54, per Stathead.
North Carolina entered the game averaging 90.8 points per contest during its six-game winning streak.
Duke's defense limited the Tar Heels to 69 points, 13.1 below their season scoring average of 82.1.
Trailing by six, 59-53, Duke went on a 12-0 scoring run and an extended burst of 22-5 spanning 7:27 of game time to go up by 11, 75-64, with 4:58 remaining in the contest.
Duke won the rebounding battle, 39-26, and has finished with a positive margin on the glass in all but seven games this season.
For the 19th time this season, Duke finished with a double-digit advantage for points in the paint, outscoring the Tar Heels, 40-28, in the category.
Duke limited North Carolina to just seven fast-break points.
The Tar Heels entered Saturday night ranked 37th in the country for the statistic (13.5).
Duke shot 31-of-55 (.564) from the field, its best shooting percentage in an ACC contest since going 40-of-64 (.625) overall against Stanford on Feb. 15.
The Blue Devils now have a 53-47 advantage in the last 100 games of the rivalry series.
Kon Knueppel led the team with 17 points. The freshman shot 7-of-10 (.700) from the field, including 3-of-6 (.500) from beyond the arc.
In Duke's two games against North Carolina, Knueppel has finished as the team's leading scorer in both games, averaging 19.5 points on 14-of-21 (.667) shooting, fueled by 5-of-10 (.500) from deep, while also averaging 4.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals against the Tar Heels.
Tyrese Proctor posted 16 points, with 10 coming in the first half, on 6-of-10 (.600) from the field.
Sion James also scored 16, including 10 first-half points, while shooting 6-of-8 (.750) overall. The graduate added eight boards and three steals, matching his season high for takeaways.
Cooper Flagg rounded out Duke's double-digiti scorers with 15 points. The freshman stuffed the stat sheet, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds, dishing a game-high six assists and blocking a career-high four shots
After playing just nine minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Flagg recorded 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots after intermission.
With 15 points on Saturday night, Flagg eclipsed 600 points for the 2024-25 campaign. Flagg's 602 points rank eighth on Duke's single-season scoring list for freshmen.
Maliq Brown returned to the court after missing four games due to a shoulder injury.
The junior scored eight points, matching his season high, fueled by a season-high two three-pointers. He also reeled in three caroms and posted three helpers en route to a team-high plus-minus of +20.
Khaman Maluach grabbed nine rebounds, matching Flagg for the most in the game.

QUOTES

"I'm as proud of this win as any because we knew Carolina, how they come out, ready to fight and compete. I thought they played at a really high level, and to be able to withstand that and then get back to our identity of playing defense down the stretch. I think that's really the story. Twenty-seven second-half points, (RJ) Davis was hitting some incredible shots. And again, you have to tip your hat and give him credit. I thought we weathered the storm, and a lot of guys made winning plays. Each game this year, somebody else has stepped up. We have a team where all 11 scholarship players that we've recruited to play have won us games in different moments. So, for Caleb (Foster), he doesn't play last game, and he came back with a big-time attitude. He really attacked practice the last couple days, and their pressure was bothering us, and because of how he responded in practice, I just had a lot of confidence to put him in. For him to be ready, I think that just speaks volumes about who he is as a person, as a competitor. And Malik (Brown), I wish I had his spirit. To be off this entire time and to come out and hit those threes and make those plays. We have a versatile team, so certain games are going to just be somebody's number more than others. I thought this game really fit Malik. Incredibly proud. Ninteen wins in conference, 28 overall. We have a lot we want to do still, but to cap off the regular season this way, really proud of our team." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"Our defense wasn't good enough in the first half. Part of that is Cooper (Flagg) not out there. We just wanted to weather the storm. In the second half, they punched us in the mouth a little bit right away, but we just kept fighting and Cooper carried us the rest of the way home." - Duke freshman guard/forward Kon Knueppel
"It's awesome. I feel that we grew up a lot today. We played in a close game. They were really physical. They did a lot of things that
a lot of teams are going to start doing to us and that we're going to see for the home stretch of the season. We've been winning a lot of games big, which is great, hope we keep doing that. But history says that it's not going to be like that every game. We learned how to weather a storm, play through some physicality and find a way to win." - Duke graduate guard Sion James

UP NEXT

No. 2 Duke is the top seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament, held in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Blue Devils (28-3, 19-1 ACC) will begin play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 13 at noon, against the winner of the Georgia Tech versus Virginia matchup.

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