NEW ORLEANS — Duke’s oldest and fiercest rival ended Mike Krzyzewski’s run as Blue Devils coach in a thrilling game that matched all the intensity Krzyzewski brought to the Duke-UNC rivalry over the last 42 seasons.
In a game that saw 18 lead changes and 12 ties, Caleb Love scored UNC’s final eight points over the last 24.8 seconds and the Tar Heels beat Duke, 81-77, in an NCAA Tournament national semifinal game at the Superdome Saturday night.
UNC (29-9) moves into Monday night’s NCAA Tournament championship game against Kansas while Krzyzewski, who announced last June this would be his final season as Duke’s coach, heads to retirement.
Duke (32-7) led 75-74 when Wendell Moore hit a 3-pointer with 1:20 to play. R.J. Davis put UNC in front for good with 1:01 left. After Mark Williams missed two free throws with 46.7 seconds to play, Love took over and led the Tar Heels to the NCAA final game.
Love scored 28 points while Davis had 18 for UNC. Duke, which shot just 41.2% in the second half, was led by freshman Paolo Banchero’s 20 points.
After leading 37-34 at halftime, the Blue Devils pushed their lead to 41-34 on slam dunks by Williams and Banchero.
UNC, though, roared back behind Love, who hit back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite a 13-0 Tar Heels run. Brady hit his first 3-pointer of the game to put UNC up 43-41. Love added a layup and running jumper giving UNC a 47-41 lead with 15:58 to play.
Duke replaced struggling freshman AJ Griffin with Trevor Keels and unleashed its surge.
A Keels 3-pointer started Duke’s 6-0 run that knotted the game again — this time at 47 when Banchero scored over Manek with 13:51 to play.
UNC built a 62-57 lead on a Davis jumper at 8:30, but Duke scored six points in a row on a Banchero basket, two Jeremy Roach free throws and a Keels transition basket to lead 63-62 at 7:02.
The teams stayed within a basket of each other from there until the final minutes.
The first half was marred by foul trouble to both front courts, Duke in particular, and poor perimeter shooting from both teams as the Blue Devils took a 37-34 halftime lead.
Williams played only five minutes after picked up two fouls. His replacement, 6-9 senior Theo John, was called for four fouls before halftime. Duke played the final 3:54 of the half with Banchero serving as its center.
Meanwhile, the Tar Heels shot 35.3% (12 of 34) from the field while making just 3 of 13 3-pointers (23.1%). Duke also struggled from behind the arc, hitting only 2 of 12 3-pointers (16.7%).
While Duke’s centers were in the game, they helped the Blue Devils dominate play inside. Williams had two early dunks. John scored six points and grabbed four rebounds in his 11 minutes of play.
Duke scored the majority of its first-half points in the paint, tallying 26 of them.
UNC led by five points early in the half before Duke’s interior scoring allowed it to push in front. Keels’ basket in the lane at 8:29 gave the Blue Devils a 21-18 lead. Roach added a free throw and when Wendell Moore hit a reverse layup, Duke led 24-18 with 7:30 left in the half.
The Tar Heels scored the game’s next six points on a Leaky Black tip-in and two free throws each from RJ Davis and Armando Bacot, to tie the game at 24 with 5:17 left until halftime.
Playing without a true center after John went to the bench with 3:54 to play, Duke surged back up by six on a Keels basket inside, a Moore free throw and Banchero’s 3-pointer at 1:30 that put the Blue Devils up 34-28.
Once again, the Tar Heels ripped off six points in a row to tie the game on a Davis basket, a Love layup and Manek’s basket in the lane.
Roach, though, gave Duke its halftime lead by finishing a basket inside while drawing a foul from Justin McKoy. Roach’s free throw made it 37-34 at intermission.
