Category: College Basketball (Page 150 of 153)

The #2 ranked Blue Devils advanced to 10-0 in ACC play with an 87-83 win in Chapel Hill, NC. J.J. Redick led Duke with 35 points behind some terrific shooting down the stretch.

After a very sloppy first half, Duke opened the second period with a 12-0 run, pushing the lead to 17. The run featured a phenomenal alley-oop dunk and a long three pointer by freshman center Josh McRoberts.

With some inspired play, the Tar Heels cut the lead to five with just over ten minutes to play, but Redick scored five straight points on a deep jumper and a steal to push the lead back to 10. North Carolina struck back with a 20-5 run to take the lead by five with four and a half minutes to play. Duke countered with a 18-6 run (including eleven clutch points by Redick) to take the lead by seven with just under a minute in the game.

With the game seemingly in hand, Duke missed a couple of free throws and committed a costly turnover, allowing the Tar Heels to cut the lead to one with 33 seconds to play. But Greg Paulus calmly hit two free throws to put the game out of reach.

Duke continues to get decent production from players not named Redick or Williams. It seems like every game, one of the role players steps up – whether it be Sean Dockery, Greg Paulus, Lee Melchionni or McRoberts – to provide that third scorer to compliment their two All-Americans. Barring a complete meltdown, they’ll be the #1 seed in the East or South regionals.

And mark my words, J.J. Redick is going to be a very good pro.