The Rivalry Continues Tonight at Cameron

Posted On: February 10, 2009 By: Cliff Comments: (more)

The Duke / North Carolina continues tonight at Cameron Indoor Stadium with tip-off at 9:00 ET. The two teams are basically tied in the ACC Conference standings at 7-2. The Tar Hells come into the game rated #3 in the ESPN/USA Today poll with the Blue Devils sitting at #5 in the poll.

The Blue Devils will be trying to win for the first time in the last three meetings at Cameron. Tyler Hansborough has won everytime he has stepped foot on Coack K court in a Tar Hell uniform and he will be looking to go 4-0 in his career in Durham. The last visiting player to do that was the great Tim Duncan from Wake Forest.

I think this game comes down to how well the Duke defense can slow down the Tarhell offense. Duke has had problems with fast teams and teams that like to be physical. Carolina will try to push the ball with Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington while Hansbrough will be the physical player down low for them. I don’t think Duke has an answer to Hansbrough if he gets the ball down low. I expect Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek to rack up a lot of fouls trying to control Physco-T. Will Lawson, Ellington, and Danny Green contribute enough to help out Hansbrough and pick up the win for the Tar Hells?

For Duke they simply need to shoot the ball better and stay out of foul trouble in this game. As a team they can’t rely on Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler scoring all the points. A player like Greg Paulus or Jon Scheyer needs to step up and score twenty or so points to really help out. If the Blue Devils can knock down some early shots and cause turnovers I think they have a good chance at winning this game. They cannot play as bad as they did against Clemson and Miami last week or this will be a very long night at home against the team they want to beat the most every season.

I’m not going to be a homer tonight, and that might upset some our readers but I see the Tar Heels coming away with a victory tonight. Somewhere along the line of 80-74.

What are your thoughts on the game? I’d love to hear everyones opinons no matter if you are a Duke fan or a Carolina fan.

Category: Duke Basketball

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3 Responses to “The Rivalry Continues Tonight at Cameron”

edge Says:
February 11th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Really disappointed in the game tonight. Seems the boys lost their fire in the second half. Hardly any 3 points shots in either. Maybe NC adjusted for this, but the team really struggled after intermission. Also not sure why coach K was so nonchalant on the bench. Other coaches get up from their seats and pace the floor, at least show some emotion. Well, the next Duke/NC game is away for the team. Hope they can do better on the opponents floor.

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jjjduke1 Says:
February 11th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Fuck Carolina had hate those fags and any fag that likes them. Not that hard to win when you go to the line 30+ times.Tyler HANDSONBOYS will get punished in the NBA. GO DUKE!!!!!!!
Dawn M. King Says:
February 11th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
The team looked great before the half when the caught up and took the lead. They looked as if they could do no wrong. Their momentum was excellent!!! It appears that after the half and the Singler technical foul – we lost our composure with turnovers galore!

I agree with Jay Bilas’ summation that this team is not a consistent shooting team. I remember the Duke teams of yesteryear when players would just ‘light it up’ from the perimeter confidently and consistently.

As always – LET’S GO DUKE!!!

Respectfully,
True Blue