‘Our guys are made for this.’ With ACC title at stake, Duke must play up to UNC’s level

One month ago, Jon Scheyer left the Smith Center angered because his Duke basketball team lacked the edge required to compete with rival North Carolina.

The Tar Heels led throughout and posted a 93-84 win back on Feb. 3 and Scheyer, in his second season coaching the Blue Devils, harbored concerns about his team.

“Look,” Scheyer said that night, “you can play really well and compete your butt off and still lose to them, because they’re a really good team. But we didn’t compete to the level that you need to, to have a chance to beat this team tonight. And that’s what I’m disappointed about.”

Well, since then, the No. 9-ranked Blue Devils believe they’ve done something to prevent a repeat performance. They’ve won eight of nine games, including their last three in a row.

That moved Duke (24-6, 15-4 ACC) one game behind the No. 7 Tar Heels (24-6, 16-3 ACC) in the ACC standings as the rivals reunite for Saturday night’s 6:30 p.m. rematch at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

UNC has clinched a share of the ACC’s regular-season championship; the Blue Devils can claim a share of their own by beating the Tar Heels. Then a series of tiebreakers would be used to determine who gets the No. 1 seed for next week’s ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C.

All this, and what he’s seen from his team the last four weeks, has Scheyer confident Duke will be up to the task this time.

“Our guys are made for this,” Scheyer said Thursday. “No question.”

In the first Duke-UNC game, the Tar Heels torched the Blue Devils inside and out. Senior center Armando Bacot scored 25 points while junior forward Harrison Ingram sank five 3-pointers to score 21 points while grabbing 13 rebounds.

UNC’s 93 points are the most Duke has allowed in a game this season and one of four times the Blue Devils have surrendered 80 or more. Duke is 0-4 in those games.

For the season, Duke has only allowed 66.7 points per game and its ability to defend UNC better is key to its chances to win.

“I want us aggressive,” Scheyer said. “We’re gonna play our defense and our defense means you have to have resistance. In the first game, I didn’t feel we had great resistance guarding them.”

The Blue Devils are using a bigger lineup now than they did a month ago. When freshman guard Caleb Foster suffered a foot injury in a Feb. 17 loss at Wake Forest that still has him sidelined, Scheyer opted to give 6-9 freshmen reserve forwards Sean Stewart and TJ Power more minutes while Jared McCain, Tyrese Proctor and Jeremy Roach handle the perimeter minutes.

Stewart and Power have added to Duke’s already-established interior players Kyle Filipowski, Mark Mitchell and reserve Ryan Young.

On Monday night when Duke beat N.C. State 79-64, the Blue Devils saw 6-9 Wolfpack center DJ Burns score 27 points. But that played into Duke’s game plan, which was to limit perimeter shooting because it’s better to allow two points than three.

The Wolfpack made just 3 of 9 3-pointers. Guard DJ Horne, averaging 17.2 points per game this season, scored just eight points.

Against UNC, Duke has to be concerned with the leading candidate for ACC player of the year, RJ Davis, as well as Ingram, Cormac Ryan and Elliott Cadeau scoring from the outside. The Tar Heels are also adept at getting the ball upcourt quickly, even after giving up a basket. That nets UNC extra clean looks at the basket before defenses get set.

Duke’s players saw plenty of video of those types of plays during game footage review from that first UNC game. The lessons learned have Duke rolling into the rivalry’s return game.

“That was the only time where we’ve had a meeting or talked about a moment where we didn’t play (to) the level that we would want or I would want,” Scheyer said. “These guys have responded. And for me, that’s what it’s all about on Saturday, to respond from a competitive level. Obviously, good things will happen if you do that.”