ACC Championship Game 2011, Duke Vs. UNC: Kendall Marshall Struggling, Plumlees Matching Tar Heels Bigs

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.