2011 ACC Tournament Championship Recap - North Carolina vs Clemson

Duke shut down North Carolina’s offense, avenged a loss to the Tar Heels eight days earlier, and earned the ACC tournament championship for the school’s 19 th time – the 13 th for Mike Krzyzewski – on Selection Sunday. The arch-rivals played in the ACC championship game 10 times previously, but it had been a decade since they last met in this game in 2001; since then, the two have combined for four National Championships and six trips to the Final Four. With his 898th win, Coach K is now four shy of Bob Knight’s record 902 Division I victories; a trip to the Final Four this year would tie Knights record, and a win in the national semifinal would secure the record for Krzyzewski.

North Carolina started slowly, as it had in both the quarter and semifinal games in the tournament this week, having to come from behind against Miami after trailing by 19 points on Friday, and Clemson by 14 before beating the Tigers in overtime on Saturday. Carolina’s young rotation will now face questions heading into the NCAA tournament, starting two freshmen and two sophomores that have no experience in the big dance. Roy Williams will have to get his squad to start faster from here on, or their road to Houston will end far too early for a talented team that has shown a lot of growth over the season.

Duke scored the first eight points of the game and never trailed. The Blue Devils held Carolina to 30 percent shooting in the first half while Duke hit 18 of its 29 attempts. Andre Dawkins hit three of his four 3-point attempts for nine points in the half, but the story of the first half was Duke’s dominating defense, with Kyle Singler limiting Kendall Marshall to two points and Nolan Smith holding Harrison Barnes to three. Duke’s offense, without Smith’s numbers, shot 14 of 18 from the field; the team as a whole hit 62 percent for the half, and the Blue Devils led 42-28 at the break.

The second half opened with Duke stretching the led to 17 points with 11 minutes remaining, but UNC started a run to catch up – as it had successfully done in its previous tournament games – and cut the margin to nine at 63-54 on a Barnes jumper with six minutes remaining. Duke didn’t fear the run though, and - unlike Miami and Clemson - refused to allow the Tar Heels back into the game; Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly hit big threes shortly after that, and the score was 71-56 at the under four minute media timeout. Duke cruised to the 17 point victory and celebrated as seniors Smith and Singler exited the floor in the final minute of their last ACC tournament game to appreciation from the crowd, hugs from Krzyzewski, and applause from Carolina coach Williams.

Duke out-shot Carolina 50 to 34 percent from the field, had 14 assists to UNC’s 8, and forced 16 turnovers from the Tar Heels. Smith had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Singler had 11 points and eight rebounds or the Blue Devils. The other five players with significant time for Duke combined for an impressive 18 for 26 from the floor, led by Curry’s 11 points; Dawkins, Kelly, and Miles Plumlee had nine points each.

Barnes led the Tar Heels with 16 points on six for 15 shooting – one day after dropping 40 on Clemson, followed by Tyler Zeller with 14, and Henson with 10 points and 18 rebounds.

Duke and Carolina are both scheduled to play in Charlotte, NC in the second round of the ACC tournament, where games are set for Friday and Sunday. Duke is a number one seed and will play the 24-8 Hampton Bulldogs, champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Carolina is a two-seed, and will play the Blackbirds of Long Island University (27-5), the Northeast Conference champions.

By: David Minter
DFN Sports Staff Writer