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UNC basketball cant hold lead, falls to Duke
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- UNC basketball cant hold lead, falls to Duke
North Carolina entered Saturday's rematch against Duke needing a win to get into the NCAA Tournament as they sat on the bubble. It presented a quad 1 opportunity for the Tar Heels who were 1-10 going into this game in that area.
And while they fell behind early, the Tar Heels managed to hold a lead in the second half. Then a Duke surge happened as the Blue Devils swept the regular season series with an 82-69 win, leaving UNC's tournament chances all but down the drain.
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Duke took control early on, playing well and grabbing a 26-19 lead.
Cooper Flagg got into foul trouble early, picking up two fouls and sitting out for a span of 7:30. But even with Flagg out, Duke extended their lead from five to 11 in that first half. Flagg then picked up his third foul later in the first half, sitting out the rest of the way.
This time, UNC took advantage and cut the 15-point lead down to one after they went on an 11-0 run to make it 41-40. UNC's surge late in that first half helped the Tar Heels grab the momentum with Duke taking just a 43-42 lead at the break.
The Tar Heels continued that momentum early in the second half as part of a 26-8 run that helped the Tar Heels grab a seven-point lead. And they had some hope. But after RJ Davis left the game for a breather, Duke went on a 15-2 run to grab a 68-61 lead. And the momentum shot back to the Blue Devils for good.
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UNC's offense went cold during that time as they forced threes and turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions allowing Duke to go on the run and control the game again. The Blue Devils dominated on the boards and had an answer for every UNC bucket.
After Duke grabbed that lead, they never looked back, essentially taking over the game on the back of Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg, both who had big second halves and combined for 32 points in the game.
RJ Davis led UNC with 20 points in his final game in the Dean Dome. But outside of that, UNC had just one player in double figures with Ven-Allen Lubin having 11 points.
With the loss, North Carolina is now 20-12 (13-7) and will be the No. 5 seed in the ACC Tournament. They will now face off against the winner of Notre Dame and Pitt in the ACC Tournament.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC basketball blows second-half lead in loss to Duke
