Grayson Allen pushes Duke past North Carolina in thrilling rivalry game

Ryan Fagan

Grayson Allen pushes Duke past North Carolina in thrilling rivalry game image

DURHAM, N.C. — Two hours before tipoff of the best rivalry game in college hoops , the Duke students came swarming into Cameron Indoor Stadium, after spending hours and days and weeks in Krzyzewskiville in anticipation of this game against hated North Carolina.

The Cameron Crazies brought instant intensity into this historic venue, and that intensity never wavered from that moment until after the final buzzer sounded in Duke’s thrilling 86-78 win over UNC.

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Tobacco Road supremacy belongs to the Blue Devils for at least a few weeks. These two play again, in Chapel Hill, on March 4 and then maybe again in the ACC Tournament. Yes, N.C. State won here at Cameron, but the Wolfpack lost to the Tar Heels by 51 points in early January. That disqualifies them from the “supremacy” conversation for the season. 

Thursday’s game had pretty much everything. 

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Grayson Allen hit two early 3-pointers for Duke and gave everyone a reason to talk about his basketball skills instead of, well, other elements of what he’s done on the court. Justin Jackson showed why he’s a potential first-round pick for North Carolina , pouring in 21 points. Blue Devils freshman Jayson Tatum threw down a monstrous dunk to start his impressive second-half scoring push (he scored all 17 of his points after halftime). The Tar Heels’ second wave was outstanding in the first half; the bench brigade pitched in with 15 points from four different players. 

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The lead changed 13 times in the first half alone, for crying out loud, and a total of 17 times during the game. And then there was the halftime entertainment, the famous Red Panda (even though a couple bowls dropped). 

So, yeah, it was fun. As this matchup always should be. 

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In the end, though, Allen’s redemption game was too much for North Carolina to overcome. Allen had 14 points in the first half and dropped in 11 more after halftime — including a huge dunk and a late 3-pointer — before fouling out with 1:02 left in the game. That 3 made it 80-75 in Duke’s favor, and the Blue Devils put it away from there. 

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Well worth the wait for those Crazies.

Ryan Fagan