How Adam Lucas and Jones Angell bring the UNC-Duke rivalry to life

Jones Angell was nervous for the first time in his entire color commentating career. 

Angell did all of his usual preparation for the broadcast. He filled out the centerpiece of his research — the spotting board — with stats, the depth chart and all the names on each roster on his computer to refer to during the game. He watched Duke’s film. The nerves persisted. 

He wasn’t the only one. In his hotel room in New Orleans, Adam Lucas was pacing back-and-forth, occasionally glancing out the window. 

Time moved slowly, so Lucas did the only thing he could: he turned to writing. The article went live on GoHeels.com that afternoon, as an apology for his anxiety-level for the next few hours. Fans reached out to share how much they related. 

One of the most iconic moments in the UNC-Duke rivalry would unfold in front of their eyes a few hours later.

It was April 2, 2022. At 9 p.m. ET, the Tar Heels would face the Blue Devils on the hardwood of Caesars Superdome with a trip to the national championship on the line. For the first time in the history of the rivalry, the teams would meet in the NCAA tournament — in the Final Four, no less. 

And like at every other game North Carolina has played over the last 20 years, Angell and Lucas were there to tell the story. In addition to serving as the play-by-play announcer on the Tar Heel Sports Network, Angell co-hosts the Carolina Insider Podcast with Lucas — a columnist for UNC Athletics, author and frequent contributor to Jones’ broadcasts. And through their various forms of storytelling, the two have left a mark on the UNC-Duke rivalry. 

“There is just a different feeling, a different excitement, a different edge [leading up to a rivalry game],” Angell said. “You’re writing down your notes a little bit faster. You’re just doing everything at a little higher level because there is an energy around this game.” 

2001: The beginning

Angell spent most of his college career at UNC in a small studio tucked inside the Dean E. Smith Center —the home of the Tar Heel Sports Network. 

Inside, Angell practiced using radio equipment. As an intern for the radio show, he filmed footage, edited audio and edited video. Then, he earned the chance to practice on-air. He learned how to act when the red recording light started flashing. Former play-by-play announcer Woody Durham — the voice Angell listened to growing up during men’s basketball and football games — mentored him. 

After Angell graduated in 2001, he was contracted to broadcast UNC women’s soccer, women’s basketball and then baseball for ten years. Then Durham retired in 2011. Angell stepped into his place. 

“Being able to be that conduit to the program for a lot of people, whether that’s football or basketball and being the voice that they associate with the games, with the commentary,” Angell said. “It’s a responsibility that I don’t take lightly because I know how important that person was to me when I was a younger fan.”

Across campus at the UNC School of Law during the 2000-2001 basketball season, Lucas was in his second semester at the University. Because he was a talented writer, everyone he knew told him to go to law school.

Watching 9 p.m. North Carolina basketball games started to interfere with his 8 a.m. courses. 

One morning in his contracts class, Lucas was cold-called. 

His professor, Thomas Hazen, asked a few questions. Lucas didn’t have the answers. He watched a basketball game instead. Hazen requested Lucas stay after class. 

100 seats emptied. Lucas trudged his way over to his professor. 

“Do you see all those empty seats?” Hazen asked.

“Yes,” Lucas answered.

“The people who sit in those seats feel the same way about the law as you do about Carolina sports,” Hazen told him.

This puzzled Lucas. 

“I had never really considered that possibility,” Lucas said. “I thought everybody hated it as much as I did.”

He walked down the hall to the registrar’s office and withdrew from school that same day. 

The next problem: He would have to tell his parents he dropped out of law school. He decided to get a job first.

Lucas met with John Montgomery, the executive director of the Ram’s Club. He brought copies of Duke’s and N.C. State’s magazines to the meeting and gave his pitch: UNC’s competitors had a magazine. North Carolina didn’t. 

Montgomery asked Lucas if he knew how to make one. Lucas said yes. 

He was given a deadline of two months. It gave him a month to learn how to make a magazine and a month to actually do it. 

In December, the first issue of Tar Heel Monthly was printed. A large print of UNC football legend Julius Peppers filled the cover. Former basketball player Jason Capel dribbling the ball up the court peeked out from the corner. The headline read, “Intensity.”

“I thought, ‘This is the greatest thing ever,’” Montgomery said. 

Lucas had a job.

Somewhere along the way, magazine editor branched into columnist. His storytelling took new forms and reached new heights. Years later, the magazine took a new name, "Born & Bred."

In February 2001, Lucas and his dad got tickets to their first ever UNC-Duke game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Lucas decided if the Tar Heels won, he would break the news about dropping out of law school. 

North Carolina prevailed, 85-83. 

“Because Joe Forte and Brendan Haywood had a great game at Cameron," Lucas said. "It didn’t go as poorly as it otherwise might have."

Together

Lucas doesn’t remember exactly how or when he ended up in the broadcast booth of the baseball stadium. He just walked in to kill some time during a rain delay. 

Angell was there, announcing. He let Lucas sit with him. 

At some point, Lucas put on the headset and joined the call. For the next seven or eight years, he became a more permanent fixture on the broadcast. And during the early 2000's there was a lot of success to tell stories about. UNC baseball appeared in the College World Series from 2006-2009.

In wasting time on the broadcast during more rain delays and countless pitching changes during slow midweek games, a close friendship blossomed. They made two-week trips to Omaha, Neb. for four-straight years to cover North Carolina in the CWS, practically spending the entire summer together traveling and in the broadcast booth.  

“I have no broadcast aspirations at all, other than I love Woody Durham,” Lucas said, later adding, “The truth was, [Angell] didn’t need a color [commentator] guy. He could have done it by himself, no problem. But he let me sit in there with him.” 

In 2016, Lucas and Angell teamed up for a new endeavor: a podcast. Carolina Insider was born to more effectively reach fans and to make interviews more meaningful, without the constraint of radio time slots. 

They invited coaches, star players, under-the-radar athletes on non-revenue teams and interesting figures they ran into along the way on the show. They even interviewed the then-director of the Secret Service, who happened to be the father of a football player. They analyzed games. They offered post-game reactions. 

Before the creation of the Woody Durham Media & Communications Center, the show was recorded in the referee locker room in the Smith Center, beside the urinals. Basketball stars like Justin Jackson, Joel Berry II and Theo Pinson recorded with Lucas and Angell in the unconventional space. 

“If we ever thought we were big-time, we just looked over to our right, and there was a row of urinals,” Lucas said. “We remembered, ‘Alright, this is where we are right now.’ But we did a lot of great interviews there.”

Over 600 episodes later, the show lives on. They’ve just ditched the urinals in favor of a fancier studio down the road. 

‘I’ve never seen anything like it’

Angell never gets nervous before a game. 

Not for the moment when UNC football’s Giovani Bernard ran back a punt return in October 2012 to snap a five-game losing streak to N.C. State in only Angell’s second year on the job. 

“No he’s not! Yes he is! Gio is going to take it for a touchdown! Are you kidding me?”

Not even for making the final call as the seconds ticked down of the 2017 national championship game. 

“That’s it. 1924, 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009. Make room for 2017. The Tar Heels are the national dadgum champions!”

And definitely not for the win that preceded this game: when UNC knocked off Duke during head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement party at Cameron Indoor. 

“And in his final game in Cameron. Coach K takes an L, courtesy of the Tar Heels, 94-81. How ‘bout them Tar Heels, Eric?

The 2022 Final Four game was different. The stakes were higher. There were more eyes on it. Angell felt a rare sense of pressure. 

With 30 seconds left, Caleb Love had the ball at the top of the key.  

“Gets a screen, pulls up for three.” 

“Got it! Caleb from straightaway!”

And his call, as the shot that went down in infamy, blasted through the speakers at the Smith Center for the fans and students that gathered there for a watch party. He shouted through the radios of those watching at home.  

“2 seconds… 1 second! Ding dong, Duke is done.”

On press row, Eric Montross and Lucas joined Angell on the call. When Love’s shot splashed through the net, Lucas turned and punched Montross in the shoulder. He couldn’t contain the emotions pouring out of him. Montross couldn't stop laughing. He clapped his hands together. 

“In terms of sheer emotion, I’ve never seen anything like that, whether a sporting event or not a sporting event,” Lucas said. “I’ve never seen a game have that much impact on that many in one place and one time.” 

They stayed on the air for a long time. 

Then, Lucas had to write. He thought he could put 12,000 words on the page that night. He was pretty sure if he did, fans would read every single one. Still, he spent most of the night making cuts to get it closer to 1,500. 

He wrote about the hugs among strangers in Carolina Blue and the texts he received from friends. It was a complete cathartic release of the significance of the moment and every emotion he witnessed from the team, the former players and Roy Williams in his “lucky” sweater. Later that year, Lucas wrote a book about it. 

“The tears,” read the first words in his postgame column. “That is what I hope I never, ever forget about tonight.”

2025: When the rivals meet again

In the days leading up to Saturday and another UNC-Duke faceoff, Angell will spend hours getting his material ready for the broadcast. He’ll fill out his spotting board. He’ll collect stats. He’ll watch film on Duke.

He never scripts out his calls. He doesn’t have catch phrases. 

Instead, he taps into the raw emotion during the game. 

“There is no question whether they are playing in Durham or Chapel Hill or in the Final Four or ACC tournament, there is a different feel in the building for those games,” Angell said. 

Lucas will arrive at Cameron Indoor a couple hours early. He’ll read the game notes. He’ll record a short segment on the radio. And since the game is in Durham, he’ll perch beside Angell. In Chapel Hill, he always sits with his family — in the same seats they’ve had since the Smith Center opened. 

Lucas will bring a notebook and pen. He’ll watch the ball, the sideline and the surrounding stands. During halftime, he’ll jot down a few notes to inform his “Rapid Reactions” story after the game ends. 

Then, following the final buzzer, he’ll interview head coach Hubert Davis and a player on the radio. He’ll drive back to the studio with Angell and record a quick segment of Carolina Insider. 

An hour later, Lucas will find a quiet corner somewhere — usually in his office at home — and write. The story either falls into his lap during the game or jumps out at him during a postgame interview. He’ll put 800 words on the page, maybe even more, if the moment calls for it. 

The game will take on a new meaning through Lucas’ writing. 

It will live on through Angell’s voice yelling through the radio. 

The emotions and memories, no matter how good or bad, will be immortalized somewhere in between. 

“It’s really incredible when you think about it that we get to do that twice a year,” Lucas said. “And everyone else in the sports world stops what they’re doing on those two days to focus on this [game] that we do every single year.”

@carolinewills03

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com

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