Duke bests UNC in ACC Tournament

GREENSBORO — When Duke guard Nolan Smith finally left the game after playing 39 straight minutes of Duke’s 75-58 win, he enveloped coach Mike Krzyzewski as the two jumped up and down together like teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert.

Winning championships can do that.

On the other side of the scorer’s table North Carolina coach Roy Williams stood and clapped while the player who caused his team fits enjoyed the moment.

“At the end when Mike took out Kyle (Singler) and Nolan, I stood up and clapped myself,” Williams said. “They’re two marvelous players, and you don’t see seniors hang around that much and play, and what they did was fantastic.”

Sunday afternoon, No. 6 UNC lost the ACC Championship to No. 5 Duke, and Smith, Duke’s national player of the year candidate, was a big part of it.

Within the game’s first few minutes, Smith put so much defensive pressure on freshman point guard Kendall Marshall that he forced the guard into some early turnovers and Williams to take Marshall out of the game.

“(Williams) told me I needed to settle down,” Marshall said. “He put me right back in, I think, and I turned the ball over again.”

Smith’s quickness caused problems for Marshall the entire game. The usually fluid distributor only recorded four assists in the game, all of which were in the first half.

“No, he didn’t get in my head. He didn’t get in my head at all,” Marshall said. “But he did make it tough for me. That’s what he does — he’s a great player, and he makes it tough for opponents. So I definitely do give him credit for that, but I’d far from say he was in my head.”

Marshall’s play picked up, but the Tar Heels were already in a 14-point hole midway through the first half. And this time, there was no Harrison Barnes bailout in store.

Singler stuck to Barnes like spandex and held him to only three points on 1-of-6 shooting.

What hurt UNC just as much was when Dexter Strickland picked up his third foul with 9:31 left in the first half. Strickland was probably the only Tar Heel defender fast enough to stay in front of Smith, at least on Sunday. Without him, Smith ran wild.

“I think you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Nolan Smith,” Tyler Zeller said. “He’s a great player and he’s a tough guy to stay in front of. He can create a lot of stuff.”

Smith was able to penetrate UNC’s defense at will and was always one step ahead of the Tar Heels. He finished with 20 points and 10 assists.

The story could have been different if UNC had been able to keep up with Duke’s shooting. North Carolina shot just 33.9 percent for the game. Barnes led UNC with 16 points but needed 15 shots to get them.

Henson pulled down 18 rebounds and had 10 points, but he shot 4-of-15 from the court.

With the ACC Tournament title lost, UNC will still have the opportunity to play for the NCAA title starting this weekend.

Williams wanted to encourage his team, particularly Marshall, with the story of past Duke point guard Bobby Hurley. Hurley grew as a player after Duke lost to Nevada-Las Vegas in the 1990 National Championship game to lead Duke to two national titles.

“It’s kind of encouraging, because on the bright side, he had to learn it in the national championship,” Marshall said. “I had to learn it in a conference championship. I still want to be a great player. I still want to be able to help my team become great. Hopefully we can make this run.”

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