Duke basketball player returns to North Carolina and beats down Tar Heels

A former Duke basketball player and coach returned to North Carolina and beat down the Tar Heels. 

Steve Wojciechowski didn’t have much success against the North Carolina Tar Heels as a player with the Duke basketball team.

The former Blue Devil guard was just 2-6 against the Heels, but his luck started to turn once he became an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski.

However, ever since Wojciechowski left Durham for the cold winters in Milwaukee as the head coach of the Marquette Golden Eagles, he had yet to face his former arch-rival until Wednesday night.

In a game that was scheduled just four days prior, a struggling Marquette (11-12, 6-10 Big East) team traveled down to Chapel Hill and put a beatdown on the Tar Heels (14-8, 8-5 ACC), 83-70.

The loss could turn out to be costly for North Carolina in its hopes of making the NCAA Tournament as it’s another Quad 3 loss on its resume, but others were thrilled to see the former Blue Devil emerge as victorious.

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Prior to the victory, Wojciechowski told the media that he was disappointed he would not once again receive the full Dean Dome welcome.

“Obviously, the atmosphere will be much different than what I’m accustomed to in the Dean Dome. I’m kind of disappointed I won’t get any boos because that’s what I’m used to when I go over there.”

Duke’s official Men’s Basketball Twitter account posted a ‘gif’ of Wojciechowski during his time with the Blue Devils, much to the delight of fans in Durham who wear a darker shade of blue.

Wojciechowski was also mobbed by his team as he entered the postgame locker room with a water and Gatorade shower.

Duke basketball opens its doors to Marquette

Marquette is in the midst of a six-game road trip, and instead of traveling back to Milwaukee prior to its trip to UConn to face the Huskies on Saturday afternoon, Duke opened the doors of Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Golden Eagles to practice.

Duke will host Louisville on Saturday night (6:00pm EST, ESPN) in a critical matchup for the Blue Devils’ NCAA Tournament hopes.