No. 6 Tar Heels ready for shot at Duke, ACC regular season title

It was the shot heard ‘round the college basketball world.

Then-No. 5 North Carolina had led Duke for the entire second half before the Tar Heels’ late-game collapse culminated in a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Blue Devil guard Austin Rivers.

The shot has been a common sight on ESPN’s highlight reel since the Feb. 8 game. But UNC coach Roy Williams doesn’t really care to relive it.

“I see it and I just turn it off. I don’t need anybody else that isn’t sitting in my shoes to tell me what the dickens is going on,” Williams said. “I saw it once and that was too much.”

Come Saturday, the No. 6 Tar Heels will have the opportunity to overwrite the bad memories from that first matchup when they take on No. 4 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the last regular-season game of the season.

But it’s not just your typical rivalry matchup. This time around, there’s a little bit more at stake.

The winner of Saturday’s game will take home the ACC regular season championship and will earn a No. 1 seed for the upcoming ACC tournament. Both teams are also in the hunt for a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed.

Despite everything that’s on the line, however, UNC forward Harrison Barnes said he’s confident he and his teammates are more ready than they’ll ever be for the rematch.

And after watching his team crumble in the late-game situation the first go-around, Barnes said the Tar Heels have paid close attention to make sure that won’t happen again.

“The biggest thing is just game management,” Barnes said. “Just making sure that in the last 10 minutes of the game, the second half, whatever it is, that you take care of business. Because the first half is great, but the game is won in the second half.”

In game one, UNC took a three-point lead into halftime and came out with a vengeance after break, leading by as many as 13 in the second half.

But the Blue Devils, who sunk 14 3-pointers that night, found a way to get back in the game with just a couple minutes to go with the help of some Tar Heel mistakes.

Senior forward Tyler Zeller missed two free throws in the final 44 seconds and was supposed to be the one guarding Austin Rivers’ final 3-point shot.

Williams said out of all the Tar Heels, Zeller took the 85-84 loss the hardest.

“He took it as hard as maybe any player I’ve ever had take a loss in the regular season,” Williams said. “There was no question I was worried about him. But he did bounce back and really play some of his best basketball since then.”

Zeller, whose consistency this season has put him in the running for ACC Player of the Year, is coming off a 30-point senior night performance against Maryland, and has helped the Tar Heels when they’ve been in a bind all season long.

But Zeller, who’s often his own worst critic, will be the first to admit he made some mistakes against the Blue Devils.

Fortunately for him, however, that’s all in the past. And in the future? Zeller says he hopes to see another ACC title banner.

“I took it tough for a couple days, but now its something that’s kind of in my rear view mirror,” Zeller said. “We’re going out to try and win a championship tomorrow.”