UNC Basketball: Tar Heels can’t get road win at Duke

This will be the 77 time the two teams have met while ranked in the Associated Press poll and the143rd consecutive meeting at least one of them is ranked when facing off. Coach K is back on the sidelines.

Will he do it on Thursday night?

And how happy he made himself. The Tar Heels started off uncharacteristically cold shooting just 18.2 percent from 3-point range in the first half, compared to 44.4 percent for BC. WATCH: Mike Krzyzewski talks about handling the tumultuous season ” We’re not the only team in the country that has setbacks like this”, Krzyzewski said. “No excuses, that’s just the way it is”. Grayson Allen also needed to stay hot. “We both played lights out”.

Tonight marks the 243rd match-up in the historic Tobacco Road Rivalry between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tarheels and the Duke Blue Devils.

The first-year player has put up 12 points, five assists and four rebounds to help keep his team in the ballgame. The duo combined for 45 of Duke’s 86 points and nine of its 13 threes. Krzyzewski said the team regained those privileges before the next game at Wake Forest, a victory that the Blue Devils’ current three-game winning streak.

“The second one definitely got me”, Kea said of the spasms, which forced her to briefly leave the game. “The last few ballgames he’s played so darned well”.

Duke’s capitalization down the stretch and UNC’s struggles at the line were the story of the game. He lived and died every possession through the final 1:02 after fouling out. Healthy and confident again, Allen seems to have snapped out of his post-tripping-incident funk, following up back-to-back 21-point performances with 25, tied for his second-most this season. On Thursday evening, he will have another shot at the Blue Devils.

That left Carolina without its third-leading scorer and rebounder. The bouncy, 6-foot-9 senior would have been the player Duke didn’t have an easy matchup for.

Duke appeared to take control early in the second half after taking an eight-point lead, 51-43, inside the first 3:03.

“He responded to what we were telling him and Coach was telling him”, Allen said. “He doesn’t want us to run plays like robots”. Allen shook free of Theo Pinson on the play and made a long 3 from the left side.

Now in the midst of his third season at North Carolina, Pinson has unfortunately appeared in just six games this time around.

The Blue Devils might be behind schedule in their development, but they’re making up for lost time in a hurry.

It’s starting to come together for Duke on the court.