Jon Scheyer explains where Duke struggled against North Carolina

No. 7 North Carolina never trailed against No. 9 Duke during Saturday’s 84-79 loss against the Tar Heels. Trailing by as many as 15 points in the game, the Blue Devils could never find their rhythm against their rival.

North Carolina jumped out to a 17-4 lead before taking a nine-point advantage into the locker room at halftime. Even though Duke outscored UNC 48-44 in the second half, it ultimately wasn’t enough. Head coach Jon Scheyer explained what went wrong after the game.

“I just thought they came out and hit us first. In the last nine games, we’ve been hitting other people first,” Scheyer said. “Offensively, we have great firepower. We can be explosive. We scored 79 points. I want to go back through the film. I bet there were 15-20 shots that were not the right shots for us. To their credit, they bait you into some of those. That’s the way their defense is set up. They’re giving Kyle Filipowski threes. That’s how it is set up. If you take a shot after the first movement or pass, you’re just living and dying with that shot. If you break them down, I felt we could get whatever we wanted. When we did that, we did.

“Tyrese Proctor did a great job on RJ Davis. He competed his butt off. We battled [Armando] Bacot in a big way. Too many wasted possessions on offense. We’re going to fix that.”

What Duke couldn’t contain, however, was Cormac Ryan‘s 31 points on 6 of 8 shooting from beyond the arc. Harrison Ingram also tallied a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double — but no other Tar Heel scored in double figures, including Davis and Bacot who had nine points a piece to finish the game.

The Blue Devils utilized a tighter lineup, playing six guys in the regular rotation. Although, freshman forward TJ Power scored a career-high seven points in a quick four minutes off the bench for Duke.

Four players ended up scoring in double figures for Scheyer’s squad, including a 19-point performance from Jared McCain. Forward Kyle Filipowski led the way with 23 points and seven boards for Duke in the season finale.

Duke may have another opportunity to battle 1-seed UNC in the ACC Tournament final on Saturday, but the Blue Devils, who are the tournament’s 2-seed, will need to move past this loss and focus on winning its quarterfinal matchup on Thursday. They’ll play either Syracuse, NC State or Louisville in that matchup. Going by seeds, they’re expected to meet 3-seed Virginia in the semifinals.