Duke v. North Carolina

Section: SPORTS
Tar Heels Rule Tobacco Road
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 6, 1994

Durham, N.C. - For a game that wasn't supposed to be for more than neighborhood bragging rights, No. 5 North Carolina's 87-77 victory over No. 2 Duke last night was a keeper. Host Duke already had wrapped up the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and the Tar Heels had cemented second place for next week's conference tournament. Both teams almost certainly will be seeded no worse than second in the NCAA Tournament.

So it was just a couple of schools eight miles apart playing the last game of the regular season, right? "It's the best we've played all year," North Carolina coach Dean Smith said. "I thought it was just a tremendously well-played game."

"It was a terrific basketball game, absolutely a terrific game," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "To see all these kids playing so hard for both teams was sensational." North Carolina (24-6, 11-5) broke open the game in the final minutes with a 15-6 run to take an 83-72 lead with 2:48 left.

"They wore us out and that was apparent over the last 10 minutes of the game," Krzyzewski said. "We just couldn't stop them." The Blue Devils (22-4, 12-4) had only 10 points in the final six minutes, and four of those came in the final 40 seconds after the Tar Heels were ahead 87-73.
"The only difference was that Duke missed shots during the last six minutes and we made ours," Smith said.

One player who stood out for North Carolina was Donald Williams, the most outstanding player in the Final Four last season when the Tar Heels won the national championship. He finished with 20 points on 9-for-18 shooting, most of his points coming on drives. "I know people were aware of my three-point shots. A lot of teams are running out at me, trying to take that from me so I just try to penetrate and make the easy play," he said.

Williams was 1-for-3 on three-pointers, but the one he made turned the game around. A dunk by Eric Meek brought Duke within 68-66 with 6:45 to play. Rasheed Wallace came right back with a dunk at the other end, and then Williams hit his three-pointer with 6:12 left. Duke was within 77-72 with 4:19 to play when Williams, who has been bothered by various injuries this season and has missed nine games, hit a driving jumper and then a turnaround from the foul line. Jeff McInnis sandwiched jumpers around a free throw by Grant Hill and the Tar Heels were up 85-73 with 2:03 to play.

Wallace had 14 points for North Carolina, which beat Duke 89-78 at Chapel Hill last month. Cherokee Parks scored 23 points for Duke, which had won five striaght. Hill added 18 and Meek 12. "We just didn't play at that championship level for 40 minutes," Hill said. "The world's not over and I think we're a good team that still has a lot to accomplish."