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Duke Basketball: Blue Devils’ comeback attempt falls short in Chapel Hill

By Kevin Connelly

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 09: Teammates Javin DeLaurier #12 and RJ Barrett #5 of the Duke Blue Devils battle for a loose ball against Garrison Brooks #15 and Luke Maye #32 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game at Dean Smith Center on March 09, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 09: Teammates Javin DeLaurier #12 and RJ Barrett #5 of the Duke Blue Devils battle for a loose ball against Garrison Brooks #15 and Luke Maye #32 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game at Dean Smith Center on March 09, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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The comeback attempt fell short for the Duke Basketball team as the Blue Devils fell to North Carolina in the regular season finale.

The Duke Blue Devils fell to the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday night, but the Blue Devils would go down fighting.

The Tar Heels got the lead to as many as 15 points in the second half, but Duke would respond, cutting the lead to five with just under two minutes to go.

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Duke would continue to get stops, but just couldn’t convert as R.J. Barrett missed a shot close at the basket and then had a 3-pointer blocked and the Blue Devils were then forced to play the fouling game.

After 17 first half points from Cam Reddish in the first half, the freshman wing was very quiet in the second half, only scoring five points in the second half to finish with 23 points.

Reddish also finished with five rebounds, two assists, three steals, and two blocks.

Something looked strange about R.J. Barrett all night, he just looked like he didn’t have it in this game despite scoring 26 points, 12 rebounds, and four assist.

Barrett was in foul trouble for the majority of the game playing over eight minutes in the second half with four fouls.

Marques Bolden went down in the opening minutes with what is now known as an MCL sprain and Javin DeLaurier stepped in and he played an excellent game.

DeLaurier scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with four blocks. The often criticized big man might have played his best game as a member of the Duke Basketball program.

Tre Jones was effective with nine points, five rebounds, seven assist, and two steals, but it just wasn’t enough for the Blue Devils to win this game.

Jack White played very good defense and showed fight and effort on the backboards with nine rebounds, but him and Alex O’Connell were horrific offensively tonight.

White just scored four points on one-of-six shooting, missing both of his 3-point attempts, while O’Connell missed all of his shots, all from 3-point range.

Coby White led the way for the Tar Heels, finishing with 21 points on 4-of-10 shooting from 3-point range.

Kenny Williams, who took three charges on R.J. Barrett, finished with 18 points, while Cam Johnson had 14 points and Luke Maye had a very quiet evening with just seven points and 11 rebounds on 3-of-13 shooting.

With the win North Carolina clinched a share of the regular season ACC championship with Virginia, but the Cavaliers will be the No. 1 seed win the ACC Tournament next week, while the Tar Heels will be the No. 2 seed.,

Finishing the regular season with a 26-4 overall record and a 14-4 record in the ACC, the Blue Devils will be the No. 3 seed in Charlotte.

Duke’s next game will be on Thursday night at approximately 9:30pm ET in the ACC Tournament and the Blue Devils will be playing the winner of Syracuse vs. the winner of the Boston College / Pittsburgh game.

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