UNC basketball focused on having better showing against Duke, not Coach K spotlight
When North Carolina junior forward Armando Bacot heard Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski announce this would be his final season, it took a split second before his mind wandered to the reality of what that meant.
Bacot and the Tar Heels would be the opponent in Krzyzewski’s last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“That’s like the first thing that came to my mind, and our minds, when we heard the news,” Bacot said. “So I mean, I’d be lying if I said that, ‘Oh, it’s just another game.’ I’m pretty sure it’ll be a lot of big time people there and it’ll probably the loudest it’s ever been or one of the loudest it’s ever been, so it’ll be fun.”
Carolina knows all of the hype that goes into a “normal” meeting with Duke. ESPN’s College GameDay has already set up shop outside of Cameron.
But Saturday? It’s going to be different even for this rivalry that had one of its most anticipated games in 2019 when former President Barack Obama and a star-studded audience — that included baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., and filmmaker Spike Lee — were at Cameron to watch Zion Williamson blow out his shoe and hurt his knee in the opening minute and the Heels run away with a win.
All signs pointed to a frenzy for the finale when Krzyzewski revealed an anonymous bidder paid $1 million for four tickets to this game at a charity auction.
Many former Blue Devil greats who played under Krzyzewski, like Christian Laettner, will be in the building. And, oh yeah, it’s senior night too.
UNC coach Hubert Davis addressed all the pre-game pomp and circumstance using a Bible verse for his thought of the day in practice. He said it was Proverbs 4:25, “Keep your eyes straight ahead and ignore all sideshow distractions.”
“We’re not a part of that pageantry,” Davis said. “Our job is to go over there to Durham and play a game.”
The Heels didn’t play that first game against Duke very well. Bacot picked up two fouls early, the Blue Devils ran out to a 21-point lead in the first half and cruised to an 87-67 win last month in Chapel Hill.
Bacot, who had 12 points and five rebounds in that game, said he thinks about Carolina’s missteps for that game “all the time.”
“A lot of factors didn’t go our way,” Bacot said. “We didn’t come to play, point blank and period. I was in foul trouble too early. I don’t think as a team, as players, we didn’t really grasp how big of a game it was. We’ve got to be ready to play on Saturday — and I have to stay out of foul trouble.”
Duke presented a bad matchup for UNC defensively. Bacot picked up those fouls trying to guard forward Paolo Banchero out of his comfort zone on the perimeter.
Leaky Black ended up on Banchero and he missed eight straight shots, but Carolina didn’t have anyone who could keep A.J. Griffin in check. He erupted for 27 points.
There’s no clear answer for how Davis will approach defending the Blue Devils on Saturday. But what has changed from the first meeting, 6-foot-8 sophomore Puff Johnson and 6-foot-6 freshman Dontrez Styles are playing more in the Heels’ rotation than they did in the first meeting and will at least give Carolina some options.
Davis seemed less worried about matchups and more focused on making sure Carolina has the right mindset.
“There is mention of the first game and there is talk about how that game played out,” Davis said. “And there has been talks about our mindset. There’s been talks about the approach in which we will take to make the narrative from the first game much different in the second game.”
For all the emotion that Duke will have entering the game, Carolina has something to play for as well. The Heels are no lock for the NCAA tournament and a win would help solidify an at-large bid.
There’s a bigger motive too. Carolina hasn’t played a competitive game against a team currently ranked in the top 25 polls since losing to Purdue 93-84 in November. The Heels have something to prove to themselves.
And they don’t need to focus on being the spoiler to Krzyzewski’s last home game in order to do that.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 3:05 AM with the headline "UNC basketball focused on having better showing against Duke, not Coach K spotlight."