Duke Basketball vs Carolina: 72 - 76

Duke vs. Carolina basketball games are usually a thrill to watch. I say usually, because I found this one under-whelming. Well, being a Duke fan, I wouldn't think much of a Duke loss; however, on the other hand, it felt like Carolina had the game in hand the whole time. There was a brief tie in the 2nd half, but Duke never took the lead -- at least I don't believe so.

I am wondering if Duke is just tired out. They've essentially been playing with 6.5 players since Amile Jefferson got injured. It didn't feel like Duke ever had any momentum during the game. The times when Duke came close, it felt more like Carolina was having some bad luck.

What I found amazing: Duke got out-rebounded 29 to 64. There were times when it looked like Carolina got 5 rebounds on one play, which goes back to my above statement that Duke got closer when Carolina was hit with bad luck. How can a team get rebound after rebound and keep missing shots?

In the last few games I've watched, it always feels like Duke starts out really slowly. They need to get out of that. One shouldn't start a game down 10 - 0, not that it happened in this game, but they did fall behind 6 - 0.

Grayson Allen went for 29 in the game. I swear it was some quite 29 point. It just didn't feel like he took over the game for Duke. He just played really well within the framework of the offense.

Brandon Ingram needs some rest.

I wonder if it would be best for Duke to win one game in the ACC tournament and then lose the next one.