Mike Krzyzewski shows up for UNC-Duke in walking boot
Coach K might be retired, but he hasn’t strayed far away from the program that he led for a number of decades. Mike Krzyzewski showed up to the Duke–UNC game on Saturday night in Cameron Indoor with a surprising injury. He was seen in a walking boot ahead of the Top 10 showdown between the two rivals.
It’s unclear what the injury is that Coach K has been dealing with lately.
North Carolina won the game on Saturday night, 84-79, and in the process claiming the ACC Regular Season crown outright. Krzyzewski certainly been bad luck for the Blue Devils lately in the rivalry.
The last three times he has gone to a Duke-UNC game, the ‘Heels have won all three occasions. It’s the Tar Heels first outright ACC Regular Season Championship since 2017.
UNC also claimed the No. 1 seed in the upcoming 2024 ACC Tournament, set to be played at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. They’ll play their first game on Thursday, which is in the quarterfinals. Since they’ve claimed a top-four seed, they’ll enjoy a double-bye for the first few rounds.
UNC dominated the glass against Duke, outrebounding them 39-28. They were propelled by sharpshooter Cormac Ryan, who drilled six of eight three pointers. He finished with a career-high 31 points, to go along with two rebounds and one assist. Ryan closed out the game after he drained two clutch free throws with 4.7 seconds left on the clock.
UNC got some big-time performances on the boards from their big men, Harrison Ingram and Armando Bacot. Ingram finished with a double-double, stuffing the stat sheet with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Bacot only chipped in nine points but still grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists.
Duke got double-digit scoring from four different players: Kyle Filipowski (23 points), Tyrese Proctor (14 points), Jared McCain (19 points), and Jeremy Roach (13 points). Filipowski also finished with three blocks and seven rebounds in the loss.
It’ll be interesting to see if there is a potential rematch of both teams in the upcoming 2024 ACC Tournament. That will be something that ticket scalpers will certainly be cheering on, that’s for certain. Earlier in the week, for the two rivals’ rematch in Cameron Indoor, the cheapest tickets were over $1,000.
Duke is the no. 2 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament, and they’ll play their first game in the quarterfinals on Thursday. For a full look at the schedule, you can find that here.