DURHAM \u2014 Down two starters, No. 1 Duke dominated the second half against rival North Carolina, cruising to a commanding 76-61 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the regular-season finale for both teams.<\/p>\n
Of more concern to the Blue Devils \u2014 the likely No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and a top contender for the national title \u2014 is the status of starting center Patrick Ngongba and point guard Caleb Foster. Ngongba missed the entire game and Foster was injured in the first half. Both had walking boots on their right foot in the second half.<\/p>\n
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said it\u2019s unlikely that either will play in next week\u2019s ACC Tournament as his team preps for the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n
No. 17 North Carolina, playing without star freshman Caleb Wilson who is now out for the season, cut a 39-34 halftime deficit to 41-40. But Duke went on a 30-6 run after that to put the game away. The Blue Devils outrebounded UNC 24-10 in the second half.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great answer for us in the second half,\u201d Scheyer said. \u201cJust how we responded with our defense and pulled away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freshman Cameron Boozer and senior Maliq Brown, who started in place of Ngongba, led the way. Boozer had a team-high 26 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. Brown scored 15 points and had nine rebounds and five steals, disrupting the UNC offense all night.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaliq dominated the game,\u201d UNC coach Hubert Davis said. \u201cObviously, Cameron is a gifted player, but I felt like Maliq\u2019s presence disrupted us on both ends of the floor \u2013 whether it was his post defense, ball screen defense, steals and deflections, his screens, passing ability, being able to rim run, score around the basket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scheyer referred to Brown as his sixth starter earlier in the week and stumped for Brown to be the league and national defensive player of the year. Brown, a former ACC All-Defensive team member at Syracuse in his second year at Duke, played through two dislocated shoulders last season and battled a knee injury earlier this year. He\u2019s rounding into form, Scheyer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaliq is as unselfish a guy as I\u2019ve ever coached,\u201d Scheyer said. \u201cHe\u2019s as competitive as a player I\u2019ve coached.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those steals and deflection and just presence helped the Blue Devils outscore UNC 24-4 in points off turnovers. UNC had 14 turnovers to just eight by Duke.<\/p>\n