North Carolina fans flood streets of Chapel Hill after defeat of Duke

Few, if any, rivalries in college basketball carry more importance to the fan bases than North Carolina and Duke. So emotions were high Saturday when the Tar Heels earned a 93-84 victory against the Blue Devils in front of their home fans at the Dean E. Smith Center.

The party didn’t end inside the arena, however, as Carolina fans flooded the streets afterward in celebration. A sea of blue and white took over N Columbia St. as chants of “U-N-C” filled the air. You can view the moment below.

📍 CHAPEL THRILL, NORTH CAROLINA pic.twitter.com/DpJ4WPcrr9

— UNC Tar Heels (@GoHeels) February 4, 2024

Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram each finished with double-doubles in the Tar Heels victory. Bacot led the team with 25 points to go along with 10 boards, while Ingram made his presence felt all over the court with 21 points, 13 rebounds and four steals.

The crowd was a major impact all evening as fans tend to get a little more hype on both sides in the North Carolina and Duke rivalry games. That enabled the Tar Heels to jump out to a 45-35 lead by halftime and never look back.

The victory snapped a two-game losing streak in the rivalry for UNC. The Tar Heels improved to 18-4 (10-1 ACC) and this is certainly a big way to bounce back after suffering its first conference loss of the season.

UNC fans have plenty to celebrate now, but they still have to travel to play Duke on the road later this season on March 9. The Blue Devils will surely be looking for revenge then.

Officials make controversial call late in Duke vs. North Carolina

A couple controversial calls down the stretch in the Duke–North Carolina game got the crowd heated and chanting some nasty things at Blue Devils big man Kyle Filipowski.

Filipowski was involved in a foul on North Carolina guard RJ Davis following a whistle with just a few minutes to play, and officials went to the monitor to review whether Filipowski whacking Davis across the foreheard would be a dead ball technical.

They deemed it to be incidental contact and did not hit Filipowski with a technical.

A few moments later, on the other end of the floor, Filipowski went for a rebound and contested it with Davis, who came down hooking Filipowski’s arm. Officials would go to the monitor and review it, hitting Davis with a technical foul. Fans did not like the call, as it appeared both players were equally tangled up.

You can view some of the aftermath below.

Referee Roger Ayers correctly predicts he's "about to get booed real bad" after a foul review during the final minute of UNC's win over Duke. pic.twitter.com/PiW4v0fkK3

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 4, 2024

Filipowski split the free throws and Duke got the ball, making it at least a smidgen of a game inside the final minute at 88-80. But it was a game that North Carolina dominated from start to finish.