The Duke Basketball team got steamrolled at home by the Tar Heels on Wednesday night after Zion Williamson was injured in the first 40 seconds of the game.
I don’t think the air has ever been sucked out of Cameron Indoor Stadium within the first 40 seconds of the game, especially against a rival like the North Carolina Tar Heels, but there’s a first for everything.
As Zion Williamson won the opening tipoff, R.J. Barrett missed a 3-pointer, Marques Bolden got an offensive rebound.
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Duke reset its offense and the ball rested in the hands of Williamson. He put the ball on the deck, tried to stop at the free throw line and almost did a split.
His shoe broke into two pieces and immediate grabbed his hamstring and then went for the back of his knee.
Williamson limped to the Duke bench, sat there for a few minutes and then limped to the locker room.
Duke announced that Zion would not return to the game and North Carolina took full advantage.
Once Williamson went down, Duke was out of it.
The team lost its confidence, it lost its swagger, and it lost its leader.
Former National Football League team doctor, Dr. David Chao, weighed in on Williamson’s injury and said, “By video, Williamson appears to have a mild MCL sprain. I do not anticipate a major knee ligament tear such as an ACL.”
Dr. Chao would go on to say, “I expect a mild low grade MCL sprain. Williamson will likely miss some time, but I expect him back before the ACC tournament and certainly before March Madness begins.”
Clearly, all those involved with the Duke Basketball team and its fans would take a major sigh of relief if that does turn out to be close to the diagnosis for Williamson because this team just wasn’t the same without Zion.
With Williamson out, North Carolina dominated in the paint, behind a team high 30 points and 15 rebounds from Luke Maye. Maye was 14-of-24 from the floor, missing three of those shots from 3-point range.
The other Carolina veteran, Cameron Johnson, also dominated the Blue Devils as Duke had to switch up its entire defense. Johnson finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
The loss of Williamson was extremely noticeable as the Blue Devils gave up 61 points in the paint, 14 second chance points, and 19 points off of 20 Duke turnovers.
In his post game press conference, Mike Krzyzewski addressed Zion’s injury saying, “We’re very concerned about Zion. It’s a mild knee sprain. We will know about length of time tomorrow. It’s stable.”
Coach K: “We’re very concerned about Zion. It’s a mild knee sprain. We will know about length of time tomorrow. It’s stable. Obviously it has an impact. You lose the NPOY on the 1st play.” pic.twitter.com/SCq6DBjnkJ
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 21, 2019
Although I am not a doctor, it seems that Dr. Chao’s and Coach K’s messages seem similar, which again would most likely mean Zion would miss a few games but be back for the postseason.
R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish tried to carry the Blue Devils to victory, but got no help from the rest of the team.
Barrett finished with 33 points, 13 rebounds, and four assist on 11-of-22 shooting and three-of-eleven from the 3-point line.
Reddish finished with 27 points and three rebounds, shooting 10-of-23 from the field and four-of-twelve from 3-point range.
Aside from Barrett and Reddish, Javin DeLaurier was the best Blue Devil on the floor, finishing with six points, four rebounds, three steals, and a block, but DeLaurier was hit with an elbow from Brandon Robinson and had to head to the bench to get hit cuts tended to.
Aside from Barrett, Reddish, and DeLaurier, the rest of the Blue Devils were 1-of-23 from the field. That included Tre Jones, Marques Bolden, Jack White, Alex O’Connell, and Jordan Goldwire.
As a team Duke was 8-of-39 from 3-point range while North Carolina was only 2-of-20.
The loss drops Duke to 23-3 on the season and into a 3-way tie for first place in the ACC at 11-2 with Virginia and North Carolina. The Tar Heels are now 21-5 overall.
The road doesn’t get easier for Duke as the Blue Devils head north to face the Syracuse Orange on Saturday evening while the Tar Heels host Florida State on Saturday.