Zion Williamson injured as No. 1 Duke falls to No. 8 UNC
No. 1 Duke lost star freshman Zion WiIliamson to a knee injury before a point was scored on Wednesday night and put up little resistance against No. 8 North Carolina.
The Tar Heels dominated inside, with senior forward Luke Maye producing 30 points and 14 rebounds, to beat the Blue Devils 88-72 in ACC basketball at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Averaging 22.4 points per game, the 6-7 Williamson left the game 34 seconds into play when his shoe ripped while he was planting his left foot. His right knee buckled. He limped off the floor under his own power but didn’t return.
North Carolina (21-5, 11-2 ACC) took advantage and never trailed. The Tar Heels scored 62 points in the paint while shooting 50.7 percent. Cam Johnson scored 26 points while 6-9 sophomore forward Garrison Brooks added 14 points for UNC.
Duke (23-3, 11-2 ACC) shot just 34.7 percent, including 8 of 39 on 3-pointers (20.5 percent), to see its nine-game winning streak end. The Blue Devils turned the ball over a season-high 20 times.
RJ Barrett led Duke with 33 points and 13 rebounds while fellow freshman Cam Reddish scored a season-high 27 points.
UNC grabbed a 10-point halftime lead over cold-shooting Duke and started the second-half red hot from the field to turn the game lopsided.
The Tar Heels hit eight of their first nine shots of the half, with Johnson scoring eight points, during a 17-5 run that gave the a 59-37 lead with 15:55 to play.
After making just two of its first seven shots after halftime Duke heated up in a comeback attempt.
Three-pointers from Barrett and Tre Jones left UNC with a 63-48 lead with 12 minutes to play.
Barrett’s layup in transition with 9:39 left trimmed the Tar Heels lead to 67-54.
But a Brooks shot inside, a driving layin by Seventh Woods and Woods splitting two free throws extended UNC’s lead back to 72-55 with 8:33 left.
After Barrett missed a 3-pointer, a Woods layup with 8:02 left gave the Tar Heels a 74-55 lead.
Williamson’s injury, combined with his teammates’ poor shooting, allowed UNC to take a 42-32 halftime lead.
The Blue Devils hit only 2 of 20 3-pointers in the first half while shooting 32.5 percent overall.
Only three Duke players scored over the first 20 minutes: Barrett with 15, Reddish with 13 and Javin DeLaurier with four points.
Behind Maye’s 18 first-half points and 12 more from Johnson, UNC led by as many as 13 points in the first half.
After trailing 30-17, Duke used a 9-2 run to cut UNC’s lead to 32-26.
Two Barrett free throws with 1:30 to play in the half left Duke trailing 37-32.
But the Tar Heels scored the final five points of the half on a Maye free throw, two Johnson free throws and Brooks’ dunk with one second left for a 42-32 UNC lead.
This story was originally published February 20, 2019 at 11:11 PM.