Tar Heels beat Duke 88-70 to become ACC regular-season champions

DURHAM — When the replay of Duke guard Austin Rivers’ famous buzzer-beating 3-pointer hit the big screens in Cameron Indoor Stadium prior to the start of the matchup between No. 6 North Carolina and No. 4 Duke on Saturday, UNC guard Kendall Marshall told the other four Tar Heel starters he thought the pregame highlight was disrespectful.

Tyler Zeller, though, didn’t even see it. He didn’t need to.

“I actually didn’t watch the video because I knew it was going to be on there,” the UNC forward said. “It was pretty disrespectful, but at the same time, as long as we use it as motivation to keep us going, I think we did a great job of doing that from the start.”

It was that anger-motivated start that led UNC to an 88-70 win against Duke and the ACC regular-season title. The 18-point victory was the biggest margin of victory for the Tar Heels against Duke since 1989.

UNC led Duke for the entirety of Saturday’s game, and while the Blue Devils went more than six minutes in the first half without making a single basket, the Tar Heels used a 14-0 run to take a commanding lead.

In Duke’s 85-84 win in the Smith Center less than three weeks ago, the Blue Devils used their signature 3-point attack to stay competitive against then-No. 5 North Carolina. In that game, Duke sunk 16 3-pointers.

But Saturday in Durham, UNC’s on-point defense forced the Blue Devils to change their style.

“Duke really focused on going inside, and they did a great job of getting the ball to their big guys,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “The bad news is they made a bunch of them. The good news is they were adding two at a time instead of three.”

Duke made just 2-of-11 3-pointers in the first half, and the Tar Heels took a 24-point lead into the break.

But if UNC learned anything from its last meeting with Duke, it’s that the Blue Devils should never be counted out too early.

“When you’re up 20 points you think you can relax,” Zeller said. “But the way they shoot the ball, you can never relax against them.”

Duke used a 10-0 run in the second half to get back in the game, and with just more than six minutes to go, a pair of free throws from Miles Plumlee cut UNC’s lead down to 11.

But the Tar Heels, who said they’ve focused on improving in late-game situations since the last-second loss to Duke, never let the Blue Devils get any closer.

UNC shot 54.5 percent from the floor against Duke — its highest field-goal percentage in an ACC game this season and the highest since the Tar Heels’ Dec. 17 home win against Appalachian State.

For the second time this season, Marshall led UNC in scoring, racking up 20 points and 10 assists. Zeller finished with 10 rebounds and 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

All five UNC starters finished the game with double-digit points, and for the first time since a triple-overtime victory against Wake Forest in 2003, the Tar Heels had three players finish with a double-double.

With the Tar Heels on the brink of postseason play, Barnes said that’s exactly where his team needs to be right now.

“(We were) not only just aggressive, I think (we were) complete,” Barnes said. “I mean offense, defense, rebounding, free throws — I think we kind of put together our statement of, ‘Okay, this is what this team can be, and if we play this every night and play consistently, no one will beat us.”