It’s the biggest rivalry in the history of American college basketball, and maybe even American sports in general. Unfortunately, the suspense was not up to this 101st match between Duke and North Carolina under the “Coach K” era, his last in a career at Chapel Hill. The poster has indeed quickly turned into a nightmare for the Tar Heels, severely dominated on their floor.
Led by 23 points (31-8!) in the middle of the first half, Hubert Davis’ men still managed to raise the bar to return to a miraculous -11 (39-28) at the break.
But no hope of a comeback in sight since the Blue Devils stepped on the accelerator from the start. With a 10-0 to start the second period, they increased their lead to +21 (49-28). The rest of the game will be a long “garbage time” and at the end of a prolific second half in attack (48 points scored), Duke won by 20 points (87-67) at Chapel Hill, under the impulse of the 27 points of an excellent AJ Griffin.
Kansas crushes Baylor!
This shock of the Big 12 conference ended in a “blowout”: a 24-point victory for the Jayhawks on their floor, a few days after the slap received against Kentucky. Largely in the lead at halftime (39-21), Kansas quietly managed the second period (the gap rose to +34!) and signed an authoritative success against the defending champions.
Christian Braun delivered a consistent double-double (18 points and 10 rebounds) while Ochai Agbaji failed to rebound a similar double-double (18 points and 9 rebounds).
” I found us rather very solid” liked Bill Self. ” We dominated them in rebounds, and our defense, especially on their screens, was excellent. It was a great collective outing.“
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx9atskTm4o
Stoppage for UCLA
The Bruins suffer two defeats in a row, the first against Arizona (76-66) and the second after a triple overtime against Arizona State (87-84), a huge “upset” since the Sun Devils had a record of 7- 12 before the match.
” I’ve played many games in crazy atmospheres, but beating the third team in the country, I don’t think I’ve known better” relished fullback Marreon JacksonArizona State’s top scorer with 24 points.
Auburn is on the verge of disaster
Leader of the Top 25 of the AP, Auburn had to work to overcome the modest team of Georgia (74-72).
Comfortably in the lead at halftime (42-30), the Tigers then let their guard down after the break, opening the door for a Bulldogs comeback. Finally, it was the “sophomore” Wendell Green, author of 19 points, who scored the “lay-up” of the win 4 seconds from the buzzer. Auburn got scared, but Auburn remains undefeated in the conference (10 wins in as many games).
” We are a team of ‘winners’, no matter the circumstances of the match, we win” declared the hero of the evening. ” We have great players who take decisive action.“
” Wendell is a winner. I would play the fate of a match into his hands any day. concluded his coach Bruce Pearl.
