No. 9 Duke holds off rival UNC

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Posted 7:06AM on Thursday, February 6, 2003

DURHAM, N.C. - As usual, there was subplot after subplot in the North Carolina-Duke game. But none better than Chris Duhon. Team captains don't get benched for the biggest game of the season. But that's where the junior point guard of the No. 9 Blue Devils found himself at the start of Wednesday night's game. Duhon certainly didn't end up there, instead getting an emotional hug from coach Mike Krzyzewski as he came off the floor in the final seconds of an 83-74 win over the Tar Heels - a game in which the slumping Duhon was a major factor down the stretch. Duhon, the ACC preseason player of the year, had scored in double figures just once in his last 12 games, and was held without a point off the bench in the first half of this one. That's where Duhon's slide ended. He finished with 12 points, 10 assists and three steals as the Blue Devils (15-3, 5-3 ACC) got back on track after losing three of five. ``I love to start,'' said Duhon, who had his streak of starts stopped at 50. ``It was coach K's decision and it was a great decision. The last couple of games I haven't been playing to my capabilities and I've been letting my teammates down. There is a point where he has to say, `That's it, we're going in another direction.' It opened my eyes and it was good for the team.'' So was Duhon's return to form in the second half of Duke's sixth straight win over the Tar Heels (11-10, 2-6). He helped spark Duke's final surge, which broke out of a 61-61 tie by scoring on its final 11 possessions. Duhon set up Dahntay Jones, who scored 23 points and had a career-high 13 rebounds, with an ally-oop pass for a 68-63 lead with 4:32 left, then added a 3-pointer and difficult baseline scoop shot in leading the Blue Devils to their 24th straight win at Cameron Indoor Stadium. ``We talked before the game and I told (coach) that I had to be that kid that I was as a freshman,'' said Duhon, a freshman starter on the 2001 national title team. ``I was just a guy who had a smile on his face that just loved the game. I didn't think about myself. That's what he saw in me, and that's why that hug was so special. Now we know we're moving in the right direction.'' Duhon's teammates sure noticed his improved play over the final 20 minutes. ``He is back,'' said Jones. ``I am so excited to see the look in his eyes, the way he attacked, the way he was just a leader again. I am so proud of that man.'' ``Chris has been under a lot of criticism and for him to have a game like this was so big for this team and so big for his confidence,'' said J.J. Redick, who added 17 points but saw his consecutive free-throw streak end at 43. North Carolina, which lost its fifth straight, got 25 points from Raymond Felton, and 19 each from Jawad Williams and David Noel in taking Duke down to the wire in Cameron. However, Rashad McCants, the third-leading scorer in the ACC at 18.8 a game, was limited to two points because of back problems. ``It's been tough losing games, but I think you've seen the character of this team,'' UNC coach Matt Doherty said. ``They are not giving in and they hung together.'' This 213th meeting between the two schools separated by nine miles even had a streaker with 24 seconds left in the half. The nude male, fully painted in blue, went baseline to baseline before being arrested by police.