A Night to Remember-Rivers Stuns UNC

I found myself on the couch for over four hours last night, gyro sandwich and root beer in hand.  Last night was a great night in college hoops, with six of the top eleven teams in the country going at it against each other.  The most memorable moment of the night was an instant classic, as Duke freshman guard Austin Rivers beat the buzzer from 3 to give the Duke Blue Devils an improbable 85-84 win over their rival North Carolina Tar Heels in their own building.  It was a great end to a great game that left Duke fans ecstatic and UNC fans with the life sucked out of them.

Duke came up hot early in this game, draining threes and playing pretty well generally.  However, UNC started to claw back on transition baskets and hitting the glass hard as Tyler Zeller had 19 points and 8 boards by halftime.  The Tar Heels finished the half on quite a surge as they took a 43-40 lead into the locker room.

The Tar Heels dominated the second half for about 17:45 of it, and they held a ten point lead with 2:10 to play.  Up to this point, Harrison Barnes went batty in the second half as he had 19 in the half.  Kendall Marshall constantly sliced and diced the Duke defense, and the Tar Heels still held a big rebounding advantage.  That's when everything began to tip in favor of the Dukies.  Mason Plumlee began to hit the glass hard, Rivers and Curry hit big shots, and Kelly hit a big jumper to cut the lead to two.  In the closing seconds, Zeller went to the line with UNC up one and he made the first and missed the second.  Rivers now had the ball in his hands with the game on the line.  He dribbled up court, received a pick that was switched to have Zeller on him, and now the other eight guys on the court were insignificant.

It was just Rivers and Zeller.  Curry encouraged Rivers to do something by dribbling and attacking the hoop with a clear speed advantage over Zeller.  But Rivers just stood there dribbling the ball.  With two seconds left, Rivers had space, pulled up, and fired over Zeller...Splash!  Bottom of the net, and the Blue Devils set off a raucous celebration.  What a way to end the ballgame.

UNC definitely choked to some degree by missing free throws and tensing up in the final two minutes, but you have to credit Duke for being relentless and not giving up.  Both teams are now 20-4, 7-2 in the ACC and the race for the league crown got a lot more interesting.  With Florida State's astonishing loss to Boston College last night, three teams sit at 7-2 atop the ACC and much will be decided in the coming weeks.

Another exciting ballgame took place in the Carrier Dome as Syracuse pulled out a 64-61 win over Georgetown in overtime.  It came down to the final few possessions, and Kris Joseph delivered with a huge 3 to give him 29 points and put the Orange ahead for good.  This was a great game, but the Duke-UNC game is more deserving of my attention today.

Also, Kansas flat out whooped Baylor last night in the closing minutes of the first half and the entire second half, winning 68-54.  The Bears showed no energy in this big home contest and one has to wonder whether they have the drive to make a deep push come March.  They just laid down for Kansas as Kansas imposed their will with ease.  Perry Jones III really needs to look in the mirror today and come out these next few weeks with some fire.  He is supposed to be lottery pick talent, but the way he just disappears in some of these games is astonishing.  He is a big reason why they have lost some of these big games.  Pierre Jackson has emerged as a great talent for Baylor, but often times he is trying to do it on his own when Jones III disappears.

Those are some of my thoughts on last night's epic slate of games.  I'm curious to hear your reaction on the Duke-UNC game and anything else that may be on your mind related to college basketball.