Against all odds, the outmanned and outmuscled No. 20 Duke Blue Devils hung around just long enough for a miraculous 74-73 win over No. 5 North Carolina on Wednesday night.
Marshall Plumlee dealt with foul trouble all night long. Matt Jones suffered an ankle injury midway through the first half and did not return. Brice Johnson was playing like a Player of the Year candidate who knew the whole world was watching.
And yet, the Blue Devils never fell behind by more than eight points, eventually going on a late run for a come-from-behind victory on the road against their loathed rivals, proving to both themselves and everyone else that they can beat anyone.
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
"I think this was the best game we've played this year," said Brandon Ingram to ESPN's Shannon Spake after putting up 20 points and 10 rebounds against the team he might have suited up for if not for concerns about the NCAA's investigation of North Carolina.
It was an outstanding win for the Blue Devils' psyche and an even better one for their NCAA tournament resume. Once rumored to be on the bubble, as Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis noted, they have won back-to-back games against RPI Top 10 teams and now have a grand total of 12 RPI Top 100 wins with no particularly bad losses.
If they can extend this five-game winning streak to six with a road win over Louisville on Saturday, Duke might be back in the conversation for a No. 1 seed on Sunday.
(The Tar Heels, on the other hand, are quickly losing hope of a spot on the top line. With three losses in the last five games and only one RPI Top 35 win all season, the resume isn't looking all that great. Neither was Wednesday night's play by just about everyone other than Johnson.)
But Duke's celebration and thoughts of upcoming opportunities quickly turned sour as ESPN's cameras made sure to lock onto Jones jumping up and down on one foot at the final buzzer before also showing him hobbling off the court on crutches.
As Nicole Auerbach of USA Today reported, Jones wasn't exactly walking without a limp after the postgame festivities, either:
No comments:
Post a Comment