Rivers’ Buzzer-Beater Writes New Chapter in Rivalry

Added on Feb 09, 2012 by Scott in

NCAAB

Not being a fan of either Duke or North Carolina isn’t a good enough reason not to appreciate what might be the single greatest rivalry in all of sports, not just college basketball. Unlike other rivalries, Duke-UNC is relevant every season and rarely disappoints. And last night’s thrilling buzzer-beater Duke victory in Chapel Hill provided zero evidence to the contrary.

In a battle between Top 10 powers, round 1 went to the Blue Devils after freshman phenom Austin Rivers buried a final second three-pointer, a shot that immediately writes a new and memorable chapter in a rivalry packed with fantastic finishes and heartbreaking defeats.

Rivers led all scorers with 29 points, which was also a career-high for the likely one-and-done star guard. He knocked down 6-10 from beyond the arc, which paced Duke’s season best 14 made threes. And they needed every one of them after being outrebounded by ten and outshot from the free-throw line.

The 5th ranked Tar Heels led by as many as 13 points, including a 10-point margin with less than three minutes to play. Their bigger, more athletic front line of Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes and John Henson combined to net 60 points and 31 boards, and at times appeared unstoppable.

The Blue Devils looked like a different team than the one that flopped at home against Miami over the weekend. Apparently the bright lights of a trip to play the preseason Title favorites was all they needed to get back on track. The highly anticipated rematch at Cameron Indoor Stadium will be March 3rd, in a game that could decide the regular season ACC champions. Both teams sit at 20-4 overall and 7-2 in conference play.

It was supposed to be down season for Duke after losing their top three scorers from a year ago, but they have overachieved thus far. As for UNC, they were the consensus number one ranked team back in early November, but are guilty of underachieving compared to Kentucky, Syracuse and Ohio State.

However, stats, rosters and polls mean little when Duke and Carolina get together. Just sit back and wait for the drama to unfold.

Source: ESPN.com