Duke basketball players ready to turn page entering ACC Tournament after UNC loss

It's not easy turning the page after a loss to North Carolina, but there's no other choice for the Duke basketball team.

The Blue Devils never led in its defeat against the Tar Heels on Saturday night, 84-79, and left a sour taste in the mouths of a lot of its players, especially its leaders.

“It’s a bad feeling, just to lose like this on your home floor and know that I could’ve played so much better," captain Jeremy Roach said.

“We’re definitely looking forward to [the ACC Tournament], but we’ve got to take it one game at a time. We can’t think ahead like that."

The Blue Devils have been in three of the last four ACC Tournament Championship Games, winning last year's event against Virginia behind an outstanding performance from Kyle Filipowski.

However, Roach vividly remembers two years ago when Duke was upset by Virginia Tech in the title game during the last season under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"Last time we thought ahead, we lost in the ACC Championship my sophomore year, so we’ve just got to take it one game at a time.”

Filipowski also agreed that the team needs to have a better mindset starting games heading into the postseason.

"This postseason can definitely be ours if we take the right approach. We just have to keep that mindset," he said after the loss to the Heels.

"It’s postseason time now. We’re guaranteed two more games and that’s the most important thing, really. We’ve just got to look at this, see those things that we’ve got to tune up a little bit come next week."

Duke will play either North Carolina State or Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Thursday evening (7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Washington D.C. The Wolfpack and Orange battle in the Second Round on Wednesday night (7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2).