No. 4 Duke Falls at No. 14 North Carolina, 71-68

Saturday, February 7

Chapel Hill, NC

6:30 p.m.

Duke University

21-2,10-1ACC

North Carolina

19-4,7-3ACC

Duke

North Carolina

No. 4 Duke Falls at No. 14 North Carolina, 71-68

2/7/2026 9:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Quotes (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A three-pointer with less than a second remaining lifted No. 14 North Carolina (19-4, 7-3 ACC) past No. 4 Duke, 71-68, on Saturday, Feb. 7. The Blue Devils (21-2, 10-1 ACC) suffered their first conference loss, while Cameron Boozer led all players in scoring with 24 points and grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds.

Dame Sarr and Isaiah Evans also scored in double-figures with 13 and 11, respectively. Caleb Foster paced the team in assists with three helpers.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke controlled the opening tip and got on the board first, courtesy of a Dame Sarr corner jumper. The Tar Heels answered on their first possession with a layup. Back-to-back buckets by Patrick Ngongba II put Duke in front by five, 8-3, after three minutes of play.
A dunk by Sarr pushed the lead to nine, 14-5, and forced a North Carolina timeout with 14:54 on the clock. After a successful Duke challenge gave the Blue Devils possession, Isaiah Evans knocked in a mid-range jumper to give Duke its first double-digit lead.
A quick five-point burst by North Carolina pulled the hosts back within six, 22-16, at the halfway mark of the first half. A three-pointer in transition by Evans maintained Duke's six-point edge, 30-24, with five minutes remaining in the opening frame.
The Blue Devils used an 11-2 scoring run to close the half to take an 11-point lead, 41-29, into the break.
Caleb Foster connected on a corner triple to open Duke's scoring in the second half, the Blue Devils' fifth trifecta of the contest. Cameron Boozer went coast-to-coast for a layup with 17:14 on the clock, pushing the freshman into double-figures.
Sarr continued his hot shooting, with his second corner three-pointer of the night, to move his scoring total to 13 on the game. Duke remaining in front by double-digits, 49-38, at the first media break of the second frame.
The two teams traded buckets, with Boozer leading the way for Duke via four consecutive makes. The Blue Devils maintained their lead, 59-52, at the under-12 break.
Boozer connected on a three-pointer from the top of the key, giving him 22 points for the night and Duke a 62-53 advantage. Duke's defense held North Carolina without a made field goal for nearly five minutes, helping the Blue Devils stay in control at the under-eight timeout.
The hosts scored five straight out of the break, narrowing Duke's margin to four, 62-58. Brown forced a loose ball and hustle from multiple Blue Devils led to a Cayden Boozer run out and layup at the 5:01 mark.
Cameron Boozer and Foster each tallied a layup in the final minutes, but North Carolina scored the game's final nine points, including the game-winning three-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining.

NOTES

Saturday was the 266th meeting in the rivalry's history.
- Across the last 100 games, Duke is 54-46.
Duke is 24-10 when playing on Feb. 7.
Saturday was Duke's ninth game this season against a top-25 opponent. The Blue Devils are 7-2 against ranked foes.
The Tar Heels entered Saturday's game averaging 83.1 points per game, but were held to 71, 12.1 below their season average.
- Duke's defense has held all but two of their 23 opponents below their scoring average.
- The 71 points scored were the fewest by North Carolina in conference play.
The Blue Devils outrebounded the Tar Heels by 12 (38-26) and have finished with a positive margin on the glass in 19 games this season.
- Entering Saturday, Duke led the conference and ranked 10th nationally in rebounding margin (+9.8).
North Carolina entered Saturday's contest averaging the fewest fouls per game (14.9) in the ACC.
- North Carolina finished the contest with seven personal fouls, including just one in the second half.
- The Tar Heels' previous game low for fouls against a Power Five opponent was 11 against Syracuse.
The Blue Devils out-scored North Carolina for points in the paint, 36-22.
North Carolina's seven total fouls were the fewest by a Duke opponent this season. The previous low was 12, by Virginia Tech, on Jan. 31.
Duke shot 5-of-6 (.833) from the charity stripe.
- The five makes from the free-throw line matched Duke's season low (at Virginia Tech, Jan. 31), while the six total attempts set a new season low.
Duke tallied one scoring run of at least 10 points, increasing its kill shot total to 26.
- North Carolina had only conceded seven kill shots in its first 22 games of the season.
The Blue Devils swept the specialty stats, leading in points off turnovers (9-6), points in the paint (36-22), second-chance points (17-4), fast-break points (8-6) and points off the bench (7-6).
Duke finished the contest with 15 fouls and lost for just the third time in four seasons under head coach Jon Scheyer (65-3) when committing 15 or fewer fouls.
Cameron Boozer scored 24 points, with 15 coming in the second half, to lead all scorers. Boozer also grabbed 11 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season and his seventh double-double with at least 20 points.
Dame Sarr scored 13 points, including 10 in the first half, logging his fourth double-digit scoring outing of his career.
- Sarr made two three-pointers, one shy of his career high.
- The freshman also brought in six rebounds.
Isaiah Evans was Duke's third player in double-figures, tallying 11 points.
- The sophomore also had two steals, two assists and two rebounds.
Patrick Ngongba II reeled in the second-most caroms on the team with seven, while playing just 16 minutes.

QUOTES

"I thought our guys were incredibly ready to play throughout the entire game. Really were in control of the game. I think you look at the sequence, we're up seven and we give up three consecutive threes, I think that's a clear point you can look at, where our defense has to be better. We have to be strong with the ball. We'll learn from this. We'll grow from this. Congrats to Carolina for just clawing and fighting back and making one more play than we did down the stretch." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"Just that we're not going to hang our heads on this. We played a game where I thought our guys played their hearts out. I thought they played incredibly tough. I thought we weathered some tough storms there. And we were in control of the game. So you're in the position you want to be in. We just have to learn how to handle a couple of situations a little bit better. These losses, I've learned, if you handle them the right way, they bring you even closer together than you could have been otherwise. They just do. And that's how we're going to handle this in our program." - Scheyer about his message to the team after the game
"We're going to learn, we're going to watch film. We'll learn from this and we'll use this to bring us together and propel us forward." - Duke junior guard Caleb Foster
"It's just tough knowing that we were leading the whole game. We've got to go back and watch, but I think we did a lot of good things tonight. Coming on the road, to UNC, obviously they're a great team. At the end of the day, I've got to be a lot better for our team, on both sides of the ball. That's definitely a tough way to lose, but we'll be alright." - Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer

UP NEXT

No. 4 Duke (21-2, 10-1 ACC) remains on the road, traveling to Pittsburgh (9-15, 2-9 ACC) on Tuesday, Feb. 10. The Blue Devils and Panthers tip off at 9 p.m., on ESPN.

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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