Duke Basketball: Blue Devils, Heels battle for ACC Championship bid

The Duke Basketball team and the North Carolina Tar Heels are battling in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament for the right to play the Florida State Seminoles in the Championship Game tomorrow night.

After last night’s victory over the Syracuse Orange, Mike Krzyzewski rolled out the same starting lineup in Tre Jones, Cam Reddish, R.J. Barrett, Zion Williamson, and Javin DeLaurier, who started once again for the injured Marques Bolden.

The Blue Devils struck for the first four points of the half, but Cam Johnson responded for the Tar Heels, scoring North Carolina’s first eight points, all before the first media timeout.

Johnson finished the first half with 16 points.

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The North Carolina defense was stifling in the first half, making it difficult on Duke to get any easy or open looks and whether the Blue Devils would score or not, the Heels would sprint down the floor, looking for a fast break bucket.

With all that, Duke and North Carolina are tied at halftime at 44, after a furious 13-point first half comeback.

As usual, the Blue Devils were horrific fro 3-point range making just four of its twelve attempts.

Zion Williamson led Duke with 16 points and six rebounds, but there were certain points in that first half where Zion looked gassed and couldn’t keep up with the pace of this game.

RJ Barrett had eight points, two rebounds, and four assists, while Tre Jones nine points, a rebound, two assists, and a steal.

Cam Reddish struggled once again, finishing the first half with two fouls, both of them offensive, and had two points and three turnovers.

Jordan Goldwire and Antonio Vrankovic gave the Blue Devils some really good minutes toward the end of the first, especially on the defensive end.

This is going to be a full out war in the second half and Duke needs to match the energy and intensity of North Carolina.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the North Carolina Tar Heels.

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