bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- There were no tears in the North Carolina locker room after Wednesday's 64-54 loss to No. 8 Duke at the Smith Center.
The Blue Devils beat the Tar Heels for the first time since Feb. 6, 2008, and for just the second time in the past eight meetings, but for UNC it was just another loss in an already disappointing season.
The Tar Heels have lost four straight -- the program's worst losing streak since dropping five in a row between 2002-03-- and are 1-4 in ACC games played Chapel Hill this season. UNC also moves to 13-11 overall and 2-7 in the ACC, with the NCAA Tournament becoming less and less of a possibility.
It also adds more significance to Saturday's matchup against N.C. State, as both teams will be trying to avoid being ranked last in the conference.
"There's no question coming to Carolina we didn't think we'd be fighting from the bottom up like this but that's where we are so that's how we have to treat it," senior Marcus Ginyard said. "If you give up now, you've got no shot."
And the Tar Heels gave themselves a shot against the Blue Devils to pull the upset. UNC led by as many as four in the second half and had multiple opportunities down the stretch but went cold at the end of the game.
A Dexter Strickland layup put UNC up 43-39 with 11:52 to play, but then the Tar Heels could not score a bucket. Ed Davis missed two free throws and then he and freshman John Henson missed the first shot in bonus situations and the Tar Heels went 2 of 7 from the floor as the Blue Devils went on a 15-5 run to build a 54-48 lead.
Two free throws by Henson cut the score to 54-50 with four minutes to play, but that's as close as the Tar Heels would get the rest of the way.
"Offensively we kind of struggled with free throws," senior Deon Thompson said. "When you don't make free throws down the stretch it makes it pretty tough. ...We just couldn't put the ball in the basket down the stretch."
After Strickland's basket the Tar Heels made just four more field goals, although two of them came in the final minute when the game was already pretty much decided. UNC finished the game shooting 34.5 percent from the floor and were 9 of 16 from the free throw line.
Ginyard said the Tar Heels were not patient offensively at the end of the game, but they also were not mentally tough. It's the second time in the past three games UNC had a chance to win but went cold at the end of the game. Last Thursday at Virginia Tech the Tar Heels made just two field goals in the final seven and a half minutes in a 74-70 loss.
"Later in the games is when we start letting our assignments slip and start getting impatient," Ginyard said. That's when we got to be really tough and be executing our stuff."
Junior Will Graves said he could feel the Tar Heels get anxious at the end of the game and agrees they need to get mentally tougher. Graves said the Blue Devils made the plays at the end of the game that the Tar Heels could not.
"There's no moral victory," Graves said. "I'm going to come back to work tomorrow, everyone's going to come back to work tomorrow and give it their all. And we got to strap up on Saturday."
