ACC Championship Game 2011: Duke Defeats North Carolina 75-58 To Win ACC Tournament Title

It’s been all Duke Blue Devils in the first half of the 2011 ACC Championship Game, as they have absolutely dominated the North Carolina Tar Heels. The 42-28 score is absolutely indicative of the way the game has went so far, with UNC struggling mightily. They have shot very poorly while getting dominated on the glass, and Harrison Barnes has been a complete non-factor. Andre Dawkins has drained three shots from behind the arc off the bench, and Nolan Smith is having a typical Nolan Smith game with 10 points, four assists, and three rebounds, and he’s unsurprisingly established himself as the best player on the floor.

Harrison Barnes has shot 1-6 from the field, while Dexter Strickland has been irrelevant thanks to foul trouble. John Henson has been effective on the boards, but the rest of the UNC front court has been outplayed by Duke in that regard, where the Blue Devils have a +3 rebounding differential.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Duke Blue Devils are still in control of the 2011 ACC Championship Game. North Carolina’s scoring woes have continued into the under four minute media timeout, despite their hard work, especially down low. Surprisingly, Duke’s forwards have continued to match UNC and have prevented the Tar Heels front line from making a big impact. However, just before the media timeout, UNC made a big play that could potentially swing momentum. From 40 feet away from the basket, Kendall Marshall threw a spectacular alley-oop pass to John Henson. Henson went up and got the ball, then converted a spectacular lay-up as he was fouled by Kyle Singler. The Tar Heels have a long way to go to get back into the game, but it was the kind of play that could swing momentum.

Nolan Smith has unsurprisingly been Duke’s leading scorer, but otherwise, they’re doing a great job of spreading the scoring around. A total of seven guys have scored for the Blue Devils, and six of those seven have multiple buckets. They’re shooting a stunning 62.5% from the field, and it doesn’t look like a fluke.

Duke’s defense has been absolutely suffocating early in the 2011 ACC Championship game, and UNC are struggling to find quality looks. They’re being forced into low percentage shots, and that ‘s reflected by...drumroll...North Carolina’s poor shooting percentage! The Tar Heels are 5-21 so far on the afternoon, which is the main contributor to the large deficit that they face at the moment. They’re holding up defensively, though not looking spectacular, and they probably have a good chance of pulling themselves back into the game if they can start shooting well.

UNC might struggle to create on the offensive end for the remainder of the half, though, as Dexter Strickland has picked up three personal fouls and will have to sit for the remainder of the period. Kendall Marshall has been poor so far and all Leslie McDonald has contributed is a three point basket. Both will have to up their games considerably with Strickland on the bench.

After eight minutes in the 2011 ACC Championship game, Duke are in control, but have a couple of things to worry about. First, the positive. Kyle Singler looks quite a bit better than he has in recent weeks for Duke, adjusting his game considerably. Singler has been overly reliant on his outside jumper as of late, but he’s attacking the rim early on offense. Additionally, he’s been great defending and attacking the glass. If Singler finally has awoken from his slumber, UNC are going to struggle to find an answer for him.

However, it’s not all good news for Duke. They have a lead and Singler is playing better, but they’ve got a little bit of foul trouble. Both Miles Plumlee and Seth Curry have picked up two fouls apiece, and their replacements have seen mixed results. Ryan Kelly isn’t looking as aggressive as he should be on the boards, while Andre Dawkins is 1-2 from long range.

North Carolina has started the 2011 ACC Championship extremely slow, getting completely dominated by Duke in every single facet of the game. Kendall Marshall has committed two turnovers while getting completely dominated by Nolan Smith, while Mason and Miles Plumlee have had no problem dealing with the big forwards of UNC. Coming into the game, it was generally accepted that the Tar Heels would have an advantage down low. However, Miles Plumlee has picked up two silly ticky-tack fouls, and as a result, he has been substituted out of the game for Ryan Kelly.

Despite Duke’s early dominance, UNC has started to come back into the game right before the under 16 minute break, with Leslie McDonald hitting a three point shot just before Seth Curry committed an offensive foul to trigger the media timeout. The score is 8-3 in favor of Duke with 15:58 left in the first half, and momentum appears to be swinging back towards the Tar Heels after a terrible start.

Kyrie Irving did not play in a single ACC game this season. Weird to think about, isn’t it? When Kyrie Irving’s season was halted thanks to a terrible injury to his toe that included both ligament and bone damage, Duke changed significantly. It feels like the team that played with Irving in the beginning of the season is not even close to being the same team as the one who went through the ACC season and the ACC tournament so far. Sure, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, the Plumlee brothers, and everyone else is still there, but it still feels like a completely different team. That different team will have to continue to do the job for Duke on Sunday against North Carolina, but Irving’s presence on the bench and impending comeback gets most college basketball fans buzzing. He participated in warm-ups again today, fueling rampant speculation about his return. Here’s the proof:

Love or hate Duke (yes, I’m aware 90% of you probably hate them), it’s hard not to love the way they were playing when Irving was healthy. Even though Duke are the defending NCAA champions, anyone would be hard pressed to find a non-Dukie who thinks that they were the best team last year. Even if they were, they were the best team because they were so good at hiding their weaknesses and emphasizing their strengths. Sure, Duke have had some good teams over the last decade, but they last time they had a truly dynamic team was 2001. That is, until this year.

The ACC Tournament comes down to the two usual suspects clashing for the conference crown. But there’s a lot more at stake when Duke and North Carolina meet at 1 p.m. on ESPN or the ACC Network.

For Duke, this is the last chance to secure a 1 seed for the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Nolan Smith’s toe injury didn’t appear to bother him much against Virginia Tech in Duke’s semifinal victory, but there’s no question that the Blue Devils would love to have a top seed and the slightly easier road to the Final Four it would entail. With a convincing win over North Carolina, that might be likely; with a loss, it’s impossible.

UNC will now play the winner of the next semifinal between Duke and Virginia Tech. Clemson falls to 21-11 and now has to sweat out Selection Sunday. Clemson was the fifth-to-last team in the NCAA Tournament field in our latest projection.

Duke survived an injury to ACC Player of the Year Nolan Smith to pull away from Maryland and win 87-71 to advance to the 2011 ACC Tournament semifinals. The Blue Devils and Terps played a tight game early, but ironically, the Blue Devils pulled away after Smith went down with a toe injury with seven minutes remaining in the second half. Duke held a five-point lead at the time, and outscored the Terps by 11 the rest of the way.

Kyle Singler stepped up for his injured teammate, dropping a cool 29 points as Maryland tried to guard him with men much shorter than him. Four other players scored in double figures as Duke overcame a horrendous performance from three-point range to get the win.

Might there be a surprise newcomer arriving to the 2011 ACC Tournament party? Maybe not, but there is still a lot of buzz that Kyrie Irving, Duke’s injured freshman phenom, is in uniform and going through warmups prior to the Blue Devils’ ACC quarterfinal game against Maryland.

It doesn’t look like Irving is actually going to play, but the sight of him practicing inevitably leads to speculation about whether he will return at some point this season. Irving has missed the last 23 games after suffering a right toe injury, and previously, it didn’t look like he would return this season. But why else would one work out before a game?

Clemson routed Boston College, 70-47, in the quarterfinals of the 2011 ACC Tournament. The game was a matchup between two NCAA Tournament bubble teams, so it’s a big win for Clemson and a particularly damaging loss for Boston College.

The game was never all that close. Clemson jumped ahead 11-0, and while the Eagles rallied to cut the lead to eight points at halftime, the Tigers quickly took a double-digit lead again and led by as many as 23 points in the second half. Demontez Stitt led Clemson with 20 points, and the Tigers held all-ACC first-team performer Reggie Jackson to 11points in the game.

UNC trailed Miami for 39 minutes and 59.9 seconds in its 2011 ACC Tournament quarterfinal game on Friday, but the Tar Heels led when it mattered: at the final horn.

After being down 14 points in the second half, UNC rallied to tie the game in the final minute. Following a Miami turnover, Carolina had a final possession, during which they found Tyler Zeller wide open under the basket for a layup that rolled through the hoop as time expired. The final score: UNC 61, Miami 59.

The first day of the 2011 ACC Tournament came to a close on Thursday night as Virginia Tech sent Georgia Tech packing with a 59-43 win in the first round portion of the bracket. The day got off to a wild start as the Virginia Cavaliers collapsed in regulation, blowing a 10-point lead before falling in overtime to Miami.

Boston College sent Wake Forest home in the second game of the day, breezing to a 14-point win. Maryland followed that up by holding serve in an eight-point win over North Carolina State. All four teams move on to the quarterfinals on Friday, facing teams with fresh legs coming off byes.

Maryland defeated North Carolina State 75-67 in the first round of the 2011 ACC Tournament. The Terps keep their slim hopes of making the NCAA Tournament alive, and I do mean “slim.” So slim, in fact, that they probably have to win the ACC Tournament to get into the Big Dance, thereby defeating the whole purpose of an at-large bid. Nevertheless, the dream is still alive.

The Terps are now 19-13, and the next step on their journey will be against No. 2 seed Duke in the quarterfinals Friday at 7 p.m. Maryland came close to defeating the Blue Devils in Durham, falling 71-64 on January 9, but the Blue Devils smashed them in College Park, 80-62, on February 2. N.C. State falls to 15-16 and now must hope for a CBI bid.