NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In a titanic third battle, Caleb Love and North Carolina proved they could play their outside-shooting finesse attack better than Duke could play bully ball.
The first meeting in the NCAA Tournament between the longtime rivals ended with a familiar storyline from the regular-season finale, when the Tar Heels got their offense humming after halftime with 3-pointers, floor spacing and off-the-dribble drives against Duke. They kept answering every push from the bigger and stronger Blue Devils, who tried to physically impose their will.
And this time, it secured a chance to play for the national championship.
North Carolina outlasted Duke 81-77 in Saturday night’s Final Four after shooting 50% and making 7 of 13 3-pointers after halftime in an iron-willed performance. It not only sent UNC on to Monday night’s title game to face Kansas, but it also ended the Hall of Fame career of retiring Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Consider it another validation of first-year coach Hubert Davis’ belief in his players all season, including a backcourt in Love and R.J. Davis that has blossomed since the Tar Heels looked iffy to even make the NCAA Tournament as recently as February.
“Coach puts the ball in me or R.J.’s hand and tells us to make a play,” Love said. “R.J. and me have been doing it all season. Whoever has the ball, we both made great plays and it just happened to be in my hands, so I made the play. And we came out on top.”
Hubert Davis, a former UNC player and 12-year NBA veteran, had said he would pull from lessons learned under late Hall of Fame mentor Dean Smith as well as retired Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams, his predecessor. Yet he would also add his own flavor to the Tar Heels’ schemes, including a premium on more floor spacing with the ability to stretch defenses around 6-foot-10 Armando Bacot with an inside-out approach..
Saturday night’s win in a matchup with the stakes higher than ever before offered everything the new…