When Cooper Flagg injured his ankle in Duke’s Thursday afternoon ACC Tournament quarterfinal win over Georgia Tech, suddenly the conference title felt up for grabs. The Blue Devils dominated the regular season to the tune of a 19-1 ACC record, but without Flagg, the No. 1 team in the country was vulnerable in the conference semifinals, and narrowly escaped North Carolina 74-71.
The regular season was not so kind to the Tar Heels, who desperately needed a statement win to cement their place in the NCAA Tournament at-large picture. Shockingly, after trailing 45-24 at halftime on Friday night, that win felt within reach in the final seconds. North Carolina stormed back in the second half, scoring 12 of the game's final 16 points, and sent Ven-Allen Lubin to the free throw line with four seconds remaining trailing 72-71.
Lubin, who finished with a team-high 20 points, missed the first, then made the second, but it was waved off when fifth-year senior Jae’Lyn Withers committed a lane violation. Duke got the ball back and freshman Kon Knueppel sealed the game with two free throws on the other end. It was a costly mistake by Withers, who finished the game 1-5 from the field for two points, and an unthinkable way to lose to Duke for a third time this season.
While Duke’s other two wins over Hubert Davis’s Tar Heels were both blowouts, 87-70 on February 1 in Durham and 82-69 in Chapel Hill on March 8, this one undoubtedly hurt the most. Now, North Carolina, which came into the day 34th in Kenpom and 35th in the NET Rankings, but now with a 1-12 record in Quad 1 games, will have to sweat it out on Selection Sunday.
ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi currently has the Tar Heels as one of the “Last Four In” but that does not include the result of Friday night’s game. A loss to the Flagg-less Blue Devils may have been the worst case scenario for UNC's March Madness hopes.
With Flagg ruled out for the rest of the ACC Tournament, Duke will face the winner of Clemson and Louisville in the conference title game on Saturday. Knueppel led the way with 17 points and fellow freshman Khaman Maluach finished with 13 points on 6-8 shooting with nine rebounds and two blocks, but the seven-footer fouled out in the final seconds of the game, sending Lubin to the line for the fateful sequence.