CHARLOTTE — At halftime of the ACC semifinals in Charlotte, No. 2 seed North Carolina is tied with No. 3 seed Duke, 44-44.
At the first media timeout, UNC led 8-6. All eight of those points came from graduate guard Cameron Johnson, off two threes and a mid-range jumper.
Coby White soon got involved with a pair of free throws and a layup after maneuvering through the Blue Devil defense. With 10:53 remaining, UNC held a 24-17 advantage. Duke, unsurprisingly, ran its offense through first-year stars Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett.
UNC was able to frustrate Williamson early, however, thanks to the likes of Little and sophomore forward Garrison Brooks. At the eight-minute mark, Williamson had managed just four points on 2-6 shooting, a sharp contrast from his perfect 13-13 performance against Syracuse the previous night.
Kenny Williams also made his presence known on the defensive end, forcing Barrett into an airballed 3-point attempt off the dribble and a total three misses in his first five shots.
As a team, Duke was 9-24 from the field (38 percent) at the under-eight timeout and had failed to make a 3-pointer, while UNC was 11-23 (48 percent) and held a 29-20 lead. The Tar Heels, at one point, made eight of 10 shots.
A White pass to set up a Brooks dunk gave UNC a 33-20 lead, its largest of the night, at the 6:24 mark. From there, however, Duke ended the half on a 24-11 run.
Williamson recovered from his slow start to post 16 points before halftime, dunking home an alley-oop and stepping back to sink two 3-pointers. Johnson led UNC with 16 of his own, while Luke Maye held his own offensively in the first half, posting eight points on 4-10 shooting.
