The Duke Blue Devils are heading to the Championship in the ACC Tournament after defeating the UNC Tar Heels 74-71 in the semifinals. Duke at one point in the game held a 24-point lead over their hated rivals, but UNC found a different gear in the second half and was able to claw their way back into the game and had an opportunity to tie it with 4.1 seconds left, but a costly mistake negated the free throw.
In the final fleeting second of the game, Ven-Allen Lubin was fouled by Khaman Maluach, giving him two free throw attempts down just one point. Lubin missed the first free throw, making the second one so incredibly dire for the Tar Heels. On the second free throw, after being subbed in, Jae'Lyn Withers tried to fake going into the lane to catch the Blue Devils off guard but instead made a costly mistake and actually stepped in the lane before the shot.
Lubin made the second free throw, but the shot was no good, as a lane violation was called, and it was Duke basketball. All the Blue Devils had to do was inbound the ball and hit two free throws when the inevitable foul came in. UNC made another mistake fouling leading scorer on the night for Duke Kon Knueppel, who hit two free throws to make it a three-point game.
UNC got the ball across the halfcourt on the inbound, only using two seconds on the clock, allowing them to call a timeout and get the ball on the sideline. However, it didn't matter, as Duke had a lockdown defense on the inbound and UNC had to get the ball to Lubin, not a great three-point shooter and he just barely hit the rim as time expired, securing the win for Duke.
The Blue Devils were without their leading scorer and all-around leading man Cooper Flagg after he suffered an ankle sprain against Georgia Tech yesterday in Duke's win over the Yellow Jackets in the quarterfinals.
The scoring for Duke was well-balanced, with Kneuppel leading the team with 17 points and three other Duke starters in double digits, as well as Patrick Ngongba II adding 12 off the bench. The Blue Devils shot a staggering 49.1% from the floor, but a dismal 22.7% from beyond the three-point arc.
Duke will now wait to see who wins the Clemson-Louisville matchup to see who their opponent will be in the ACC Championship, which will take place tomorrow, Saturday, March 15, at 8:30 p.m. EST.