UNC men's basketball falls to No. 1 seed Duke, 74-71, in ACC tournament semifinals

CHARLOTTE — A season-low 17 percent 3-point percentage led to the defeat of No. 5 seed North Carolina (22-13, 13-7 ACC) to top-seeded Duke (30-3, 19-1 ACC), 74-71, on Friday night in the ACC tournament semifinals.

Junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin’s 20 points and nine rebounds paced North Carolina all night, but his 3-pointer as time expired fell off the front rim and allowed Duke to escape UNC after leading by as many as 24 points.  

Lubin opened the scoring for UNC with a pair of dunks. It was sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau who fed Lubin on both slams, the first via a smooth bounce pass under the basket and the second a lob over Duke’s 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach.

“My teammates continue to trust me and try to find me,” Lubin said. “Deep seals, and in the interior [I’m] just trying to make plays around the rim.”

Lubin continued to give North Carolina scoring during a slow shooting start, with two offensive rebounds leading to a putback and pair of free throws. On the other end, however, seven Duke scorers contributed offensively by the under-8 timeout and helped the Blue Devils to a double-figure lead midway through the first. 

The Tar Heels missed their first seven 3-point attempts, and it wasn’t until Cadeau’s triple with five minutes left in the half before they ended the drought. Moments later, Cadeau picked up his third foul and sat for the remainder of the period. 

The Blue Devils continued attacking North Carolina, drawing 10 fouls and tallying 15 free throws. This helped Duke to a 15-0 run to end the half, as its defense held UNC to zero points over the last five minutes.

The Tar Heels finished the half 1-10 from three and shot 36 percent from the floor. Duke led 45-24 at the half. 

Lubin ended UNC’s scoring drought with another alley-oop dunk from Cadeau’s pass. But North Carolina’s cold shooting from deep persisted into the second half, as the Tar Heels missed their first five attempts to start the second half.

A 16-4 run midway through the second half helped pull North Carolina within 12 with 11:35 left to go. It was scoring from five different Tar Heels, but mainly Cadeau and junior guard Seth Trimble, who combined for 10 points over the stretch. 

“We had four guys in double figures and a lot of guys made a lot of plays that allowed us to get back into the game,” graduate guard RJ Davis said. “It was a team effort. That's all you can ask for when you're trying to claw back into the game.”

Duke’s response out of the under-12 timeout found Maluach for two lob dunks over Lubin in the post and helped Duke regain an 18-point lead less than three minutes later. But UNC continued chipping away at Duke’s lead, and with under six minutes to go, the Tar Heels had clawed their way back within single digits. 

And following an airballed three by Duke’s Kon Knueppel, Trimble took the ball coast-to-coast for an old-fashion 3-point play. He drew another foul on the next possession, and with two free throws, UNC trailed by only four inside the final four minutes. 

A layup by Cadeau and a free throw by first-year forward Drake Powell brought North Carolina within one possession as the clock ticked inside the final minute. The Tar Heels forced Knueppel into a missed shot, and Trimble was fouled on the rebound, where he made both free throws on the other end. 

Having to foul late, UNC put Tyrese Proctor on the line. He missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and gave North Carolina the ball and a chance to take the lead with less than 20 seconds to play. 

North Carolina found Lubin in the post, who spun his way to the basket and drew a foul with four seconds left on the clock. He missed the first, before a lane violation on UNC forward Jae’Lyn Withers wiped away the second attempt.

"[The loss] is not because of him,” Lubin said. “We made millions of mistakes to be in that position, so we’re just trying to pick his head up and try to pick each other’s heads up.”

The Tar Heels got one more chance to tie the game with 3.2 seconds left, but forced to inbound to UNC’s bigman, Lubin was called upon for the final shot. It struck the front rim before falling to the floor as time expired.  

UNC finished 3-17 from three. 

North Carolina now awaits Selection Sunday at 6 p.m. on March 16 to determine whether it will make the NCAA tournament. Prior to the loss, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi predicted the Tar Heels would be one of the last four teams in and on the cusp of playing in the First Four. 

“I think we've seen in the past couple weeks that we are a tournament team,” RJ Davis said. “I think if you look at the trajectory of our whole season, the way we dealt with adversity, perseverance, and especially these last couple of weeks, we overcame all of that.”

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