ACC Basketball

The No. 7 Duke Blue Devils added a marquee win to their resume as they battle for an ACC crown and a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA men's tournament.

Duke defeated the No. 8 Florida State Seminoles 70-65 in Monday's conference showdown at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tre Jones led the way, helping his team improve to 21-3 overall and 11-2 in the ACC, which is second place behind the 12-1 Louisville Cardinals.

Matthew Hurt took advantage of a questionable call and hit four critical free throws in the waning seconds to secure the win.

As for the Seminoles, they fell to 20-4 overall and 10-3 in ACC play with their first loss since Jan. 28.

         

Notable Player Stats

• Duke G Tre Jones: 13 points, six assists and three rebounds
• Duke C Vernon Carey Jr.: 10 points, 10 rebounds and two steals
• Duke G Jordan Goldwire: 13 points on 3-of-3 shooting from three-point range
• FSU G Trent Forrest: 18 points, nine rebounds, eight steals and four assists
• FSU F Malik Osborne: 14 points and five rebounds
• FSU G Devin Vassell: 11 points, six rebounds and two steals

     

Jordan Goldwire Helps Bail Out Blue Devils in Supporting Role

The one-two punch of Jones on the outside and Vernon Carey Jr. on the inside has been enough to carry Duke for much of the season.

Jones in particular was brilliant down the stretch of Saturday's comeback win over North Carolina, scoring 28 points and taking over after Carey fouled out. The sophomore guard outscored the Tar Heels 18-16 in the final minute of regulation and overtime.

However, Duke needed more than its leading pair on Monday given its turnover woes.

Despite building a double-digit advantage in the first half, the home team let its lead slip away when Florida State dialed up the pressure. Trent Forrest alone tallied eight steals, creating transition opportunities and easy baskets to help his team remain in striking distance even with abysmal perimeter shooting.

The turnovers undercut Duke's own impressive defensive effort, and it needed a secondary scorer to hit key shots and keep the Seminoles at bay.

Enter Jordan Goldwire, who connected on all three of his triples and all five of his field-goal attempts. Two of the three-pointers came in the second half, and he drilled a key jumper in the final three minutes to push the lead back to three.

Opposing defenses figure to collapse on Jones and Carey as the stakes are dialed up in the stretch run this season, and Duke will need other players to take advantage of the subsequent openings. Goldwire proved he can do just that in Monday's win.

           

Poor Shooting Costs Seminoles Key Road Win

In most years, almost every ACC game is a high-profile affair.

However, the conference is down compared to its usual position atop the country, meaning teams like Florida State—who could fall anywhere from a No. 1 to a No. 4 seed come Selection Sunday—don't have many chances to truly impress on the road.

The Seminoles have noteworthy wins over Florida and Louisville away from home, but Monday represented an opportunity to win in one of the sport's most hallowed grounds. Yet a team that is defined by balance with nobody averaging more than Devin Vassell's 13.5 points per game and 10 different players averaging double-digit minutes all went cold at once.

Florida State shot an abysmal 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) from three-point range and, much like Duke's turnovers, could have been dealing with tired legs from Saturday's win over Miami.

The poor shooting is in part a testament to the Blue Devils defense, which is No. 12 in the country in Ken Pomeroy's pace-adjusted rankings, but the Seminoles will surely rue the fact that an even slightly below-average mark from three-point range would have been enough for a win.

Perhaps they will get another chance against the Blue Devils in the ACC tournament.

          

What's Next?

Both teams are home Saturday when Duke faces the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Florida State hosts the Syracuse Orange.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams was still in a fighting mood when he addressed the press following UNC's see-it-to-believe-it loss to Duke Saturday. 

Amid a down year for the Tar Heels, Williams' team finally found the aggressiveness it's been lacking this season and the coach is ready to capitalize on it. 

"I still think good things are going to happen to this team," Williams said. "But I am not going to do this woe-is-me type BS." 

Rather than feeling discouraged after the team's 13th loss of the year, Williams feels his players finally showed up the way he knew they could. 

"Today I saw the team I thought we were going to have in the preseason," Williams said. 

UNC was ranked No. 9 to start the year before everything went haywire. In addition to a knee injury to star point guard Cole Anthony, the Tar Heels dropped non-conference games to Michigan, No. 11 Oregon, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 5 Virginia, Wofford and No. 2 Gonzaga. And that was all before a five-game losing streak in ACC play during January. 

The NCAA Tournament remains an extreme long-shot for UNC without a conference tournament title, but more improbable things have happened in college basketball.

First, the team needs to get back above .500 on the year. The Tar Heels (10-13, 3-9 ACC) have still have plenty of winnable games on their schedule including Syracuse, Notre Dame, Virginia and two against Wake Forest. 

With Anthony back in the lineup—and with the freshman posting 24 points, 11 rebounds and four assists against the Blue Devils—a turnaround feels much more possible. 

A run in the ACC Tournament with the same type of intensity it displayed in Saturday's 98-96 loss to Duke will go a long way towards making a run in March. 

Williams apparently feels the same way. As he was leaving his postgame press conference, the Hall of Famer gave one parting message. 

"Old coach is not going to freaking quit," Williams said. "And they aren't either.

Wendell Moore Jr.'s buzzer-beating layup propelled the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils to a comeback win over the unranked UNC Tar Heels 98-96 in overtime on Saturday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

WOW! WHAT AN ENDING!

NO. 7 DUKE WINS IN STUNNING FASHION AGAINST UNC! pic.twitter.com/OZ50X9eQcF

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 9, 2020

The Blue Devils trailed 77-64 with 4:31 left in regulation but sent the game to overtime at 84 apiece after a buzzer-beating jumper from Tre Jones, who finished with a game-high 28 points.

TRE JONES TIES IT AT THE BUZZER!!!!! pic.twitter.com/DJhk46cPFO

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) February 9, 2020

Cole Anthony's 24 points and 11 rebounds paced the Tar Heels, who fell to 10-13 overall (3-9 ACC). The Blue Devils improved to 20-3 (10-2 ACC).

     

Notable Performances

Duke G Tre Jones: 28 PTS, 6 AST, 5 REB

Duke G Cassius Stanley: 22 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST

Duke F Wendell Moore Jr.: 17 PTS, 10 REB, 2 AST

UNC G Cole Anthony: 24 PTS, 11 REB, 4 AST

UNC F Garrison Brooks: 18 PTS, 5 REB, 2 BLK

UNC G Christian Keeling: 13 PTS, 4 REB, 2 STL

    

Clutch Jones and Moore Performances Help Blue Devils Steal Win

Tre Jones was simply phenomenal at the end of Duke's comeback win Saturday.

He scored 15 points over 1:51 of game time combining the end of regulation and the beginning of overtime.

He executed a perfect missed free throw, collected his own rebound and unleashed a shot in traffic to tie the game.

He scored three more points in the final 16 seconds to help turn a 96-91 disadvantage into a 98-96 win.

And he did all that while playing in the most hostile road environment possible for a Duke player. Moreover, all of that was done without Duke big man Vernon Carey Jr., who fouled out with just over four minutes left in the game.

Jones did pretty much whatever he wanted by the end of the game, slicing through traffic for layups and willing his team to victory in a game that looked completely out of reach by the under-four timeout.

But he had a little help from his teammates, perhaps no one more than the hero of the game in Wendell Moore Jr.

The freshman was fantastic in the closing seconds. First, he hit a layup to bring Duke within 96-95 with 13 seconds left. Then, he rebounded a Jones miss at the line by tapping the ball back to the guard, who fired a game-winning shot attempt.

Like North Carolina State big man Lorenzo Charles in the 1983 NCAA men's championship, however, Moore was in the right place at the right time to collect an air ball and put it home in one fell swoop to deliver a win.

Moore gained Duke legend status with the victory:

Wendell Moore. A hero forever engrained in this rivalry.

— Duke Digest (@DukeDigest) February 9, 2020

The fact that he was even out there on the court and excelling was impressive enough given a recent hand injury that kept him sidelined, as noted by sports anchor Matt Harris:

Charlotte’s Wendell Moore Jr. broke a bone in his right hand Jan. 4th. Had surgery. Missed 6 games.

He worked to get back for UNC game and scored career-high 17 points, including the game-winner.

Unreal pic.twitter.com/FLXvRcVfOk

— Matt Harris (@Matt____Harris) February 9, 2020

Jeff Goodman of Stadium praised Jones' game:

Gimme Tre Jones any day. I know, he can’t really shoot it from the perimeter. But he does EVERYTHING else. Leads, sets up his teammates, gets to the basket and GUARDS.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 9, 2020

And ESPN Stats & Info noted how Jones joined some elite company:

Tre Jones finished with 28 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists in tonight's OT win vs North Carolina.

He is the first player with 28 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the Duke-UNC rivalry since Michael Jordan on Jan. 22, 1983. pic.twitter.com/Dj6lBjb0YX

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 9, 2020

Duke was on the verge of losing to its third unranked opponent this season, but that didn't happen as Jones and Moore were the heroes for a Blue Devils team looking to chase down Louisville for first place in the ACC before conference tournament play begins.

      

Tale of Two Games As Excellent UNC Performance Erased Down Stretch

UNC was simply fantastic for the vast majority of the game, outplaying Duke on both ends en route to leading the Blue Devils by 13 points with 4:31 remaining.

A victory seemed inevitable, especially with Carey Jr. (18 first-half points) fouling out.

But everything that could go wrong did for the Tar Heels down the stretch.

First, UNC struggled at the line, making just five of its final 12 regulation free throws. The problem was Duke seemingly countered every miss with a basket of its own on the other end as the lead slowly wilted away.

Second, bounces and calls were not in UNC's favor. Credit to Jones for executing perhaps the best missed free throw in basketball history given the result and the circumstances, but the odds of the ball bouncing in such a way and the ball eventually going through the hoop were slim at best.

Furthermore, a no-call marred the end of overtime, as Moore clearly fouled Andrew Platek as the two players were diving for a loose ball with UNC up 96-95. That ball went out of bounds, Duke was able to inbound and UNC never got the ball back after a Jones free throw and a miracle Moore layup.

Third, Anthony had three turnovers at the end of regulation and overtime, with Brooks adding one of his own. Anthony was exceptional on this day, and UNC isn't coming close to a win without his efforts, but the turnovers still stung as every possession's value mounted down the stretch.

College basketball analyst Mark Titus noted the following to sum up the game best:

There were at least 1,000 moments where all UNC had to do was not do ______, and they did exactly that thing every single time

— Mark Titus (@clubtrillion) February 9, 2020

    

In a season where almost nothing has gone right for a 10-13 team that started the year in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll, this loss is tough to swallow despite the Tar Heels' fantastic performance for much of the game.

But as Jonathan M. Alexander of the News & Observer noted, the defeat may be "indicative" of UNC's season. 

There are no moral victories for UNC after this one, and now the Tar Heels must find a way to finish strong as they look likely to finish out of the NCAA tournament field for the first time in 10 years.

            

What's Next?

Duke will host No. 8 Florida State on Monday at 7 p.m. ET in a battle for second place in the ACC. FSU is tied with Duke for that spot courtesy of a 10-2 record.

UNC will stay in-state to visit Wake Forest on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Mayfair High School point guard Dior Johnson—who is sixth overall among boys high school basketball recruits in the class of 2022, according to 247Sports' composite rankings—has committed to Syracuse.

Evan Daniels of 247Sports provided the exclusive on the 5-star guard, who is listed as the top floor general in the class. The Lakewood, California, native also announced his decision on Twitter on Friday:

100% pic.twitter.com/8IVNtbWlsp

— Dior Johnson (@3Diorjohnson) February 7, 2020

The 6'3" Johnson discussed his decision with Daniels:

"I picked Syracuse because I've been around those coaches since seventh grade.

"I was 12, I played for City Rocks with [head coach Jim Boeheim's son and current Syracuse guard] Buddy Boeheim played at the time. I was always around the Syracuse guys, like all of the time, it's his son so they’re around practice and everything. They always have had big interest in me even since I was really young."

Per 247Sports, Johnson had 16 offers, including ones from St. John's, LSU and Arizona State.

"I don’t have anything against the Blue Bloods, but I’m the kind of guy who wants to go to a school where I can play against them and beat them," Johnson said in a first-person piece for Sports Illustrated.

Boeheim is putting together a loaded class of 2022, with 4-star shooting guard Chance Westry already committing to the Orange. Westry is ranked 28th overall.

Syracuse is the only school to have two top-100 commits from the class thus far.

Josh Gershon of 247Sports provided the following scouting report on Johnson on July 19:

Good size and length to go with sturdy frame that should carry plenty of strength. Impressive skill set given athletic ability. Has handle and vision to play on the ball, while he is an efficient enough shooter/scorer to play off it. Will be able to guard the one and two at next level. Talent-wise he is a no-brainer elite prospect at this stage. Bounced around several high schools before sophomore year. Finding stability will be key, but has continued to progress regardless. Projects as high major priority recruit.

Syracuse offered him July 31. He unofficially visited the school last Saturday, when the team hosted Duke.

Johnson wasn't the only prized recruit visiting Syracuse that day. Five-star shooting guard Zion Cruz (class of 2022) and 4-star center Mac Etienne (class of 2021) were among those in Central New York, per Michael McAllister of 247Sports.

The future looks bright in Syracuse after Johnson's commitment, but for now, the Orange are 13-9 and 6-5 in ACC play as they look to wiggle their way into the NCAA tournament.

Whether you believe Duke vs. North Carolina is the greatest rivalry in any sport or merely a top-five hate-fest in men's college basketball, there's no denying that it is a bucket list-worthy event and a must-watch affair at least twice every season.

When the Tobacco Road titans tangle at the Dean E. Smith Center at 6 p.m. ET Saturday night, it will be the 39th consecutive time the Tar Heels play host with one of the two teams ranked in the AP Top 10.

This is likely neither the first nor the last time you'll see this stat nugget, but in the past 100 meetings dating back to January 1979, each team has won 50 times, and each team has scored exactly 7,746 points.

Yet it feels like the seventh-ranked Blue Devils are going to blow out the 12-loss Tar Heels, doesn't it?

Duke is tied with Kansas for the best odds at winning the 2020 NCAA tournament with Caesars Palace (both blue bloods are currently listed at 7-1). According to the Bracket Matrix, the Blue Devils are the top No. 2 seed right now, patiently waiting to ascend to the top line if Baylor, Kansas, Gonzaga or San Diego State ever provides that opening.

And North Carolina...is a train wreck.

The Tar Heels have lost 11 of their past 15 games. That includes an embarrassing home loss to Boston College last Saturday in what was supposed to be Cole Anthony's triumphant return to action. In the subsequent loss to Florida State, the Tar Heels missed 17 consecutive field-goal attempts, going 10 minutes and 59 seconds between made buckets.

Unless they mess around and win the ACC tournament, there's no realistic hope for this sub-.500 team to receive an invite to the Big Dance.

But we all know what ESPN's College GameDay crew is going to say at least half a dozen times while broadcasting from Chapel Hill on Saturday morning:

"Throw out the records when these loathed rivals square off!"

Has anyone ever bothered to fact-check that off-the-cuff remark, though?

Well, I did, and it's a load of hooey.

Turns out the records are a solid indicator of what to expect, even when the better team is the one that has to travel the short distance along U.S. 15-501.

Since the inception of the AP poll in 1948, there have been 26 instances in which the road team in this rivalry was ranked in the Top 10 and the home team was unranked. The road team won 19 of those games (73.1 percent) and 12 of them by at least an eight-point margin.

To put that number into national context, through Tuesday morning, there had been 800 cases dating back to the start of the 2010-11 season in which an AP Top 10 team played a true road game against an unranked opponent, per Sports Reference. In those games, the ranked team has a record of 582-218, otherwise read as 72.8 percent.

And we're not even talking conference games or rivals with deep-rooted hatred for one another. That's any Top 10 team at any unranked team. It includes North Carolina's 112-70 win at Chaminade in the 2012 Maui Invitational, as well as Duke's 108-62 win at UNC Greensboro in December 2010.

If I were to whittle that list down to just the conference games and the ones regarded as top nonconference rivalries, it's probably more like 63 percent.

Saying anything can happen in this rivalry is simply acknowledging that it is, in fact, a college basketball game. It's actually a bit less random than what we've seen on a nightly basis for the past decade.

Let's go one step further than that, though, because North Carolina isn't just unranked; it is well on its way toward its second-worst season of the past century.

Things aren't quite as dire as they were when UNC went 8-20 in 2001-02, but that was the only season since 1920 in which the Tar Heels won fewer than 44.4 percent of their games played. They are currently at 45.5 percent, and KenPom.com has them projected to finish the regular season at 13-18 (41.9 percent).

So what does it look like when the home team is having a particularly bad season?

Just to draw the line somewhere, let's call anything below 64 percent a bad season by Duke/UNC standards—and let's also safely assume the Tar Heels aren't going to reach that mark this year. Even if North Carolina miraculously flipped a switch and didn't lose again for the next two months, its absolute best-case scenario is a 29-12 record (70.7 percent). And that's not happening.

Dating back to 1950, there have been 29 instances of either Duke or North Carolina having a "bad season" while the other won better than 64 percent of its games. That means 29 cases of a good road team facing a bad home team in this rivalry. The road team has gone 23-6 (79.3 percent) in those contests.

Sure, there have been a few stunners.

Duke went 15-13 in 1968-69, but one of those wins was a home game against No. 2 North Carolina. Similar story three years later when Duke went 14-12 with a home win over No. 3 North Carolina. And in 1980-81, the Tar Heels were ranked 11th when they lost in overtime at Duke in Mike Krzyzewski's first season with the Blue Devils. (In all three seasons, UNC still made it to the Final Four.)

On the other side of things, Duke was ranked fifth, eighth and 10th in 1965, 1990 and 2003, respectively, when it lost a road game during a down year for the Tar Heels. The most inexplicable was the 19-point loss in 1990, but those Blue Devils did recover to reach the national championship.

But six out of 29 times is hardly grounds for believing we should throw caution to the wind and disregard everything that has transpired prior to each installment of this game. If anything, expect Duke to win a blowout because the favorite won by double digits in 10 of those 29 games.

So if you're picking the Tar Heels to win (or to cover the double-digit spread), don't do it "because anything can happen in this rivalry," or because they have played to a stalemate over the course of the past four decades. That's silly.

However, you might consider doing it because Duke has struggled from three-point range during the first two legs of this three-game streak of road games.

The Blue Devils did score a million 97 points in the win at Syracuse, but they only made six threes against the 2-3 zone. And in Tuesday night's unexpected close call at Boston College, they started out 0-of-14 before Joey Baker finally made the team's last three-point attempt of the night.

As anemic as North Carolina's offense has been throughout this season—70.9 points per game with only three games over 78; quite the drop off from 85.8 and 26, respectively, last year—Duke is going to be in trouble if that deep ball isn't falling.

While Duke is nowhere near as reliant on threes as it often has been for the past few decades, Vernon Carey Jr. is the only true post presence on the roster. And he has committed four fouls in four of Duke's past six games. Carolina's trio of Armando Bacot, Garrison Brooks and Leaky Black will make it difficult for Duke's guards to create in the paint, and you better believe they'll be trying to send Carey to the bench with early foul trouble.

The young Blue Devils have obviously grown a lot since the season opener against Kansas, but it bears mentioning that they were 15-of-40 (37.5 percent) on two-point attempts in that game while trying to navigate around or over Udoka Azubuike and David McCormack. Georgetown's Omer Yurtseven also gave the Blue Devils fits in a game where they shot 40.4 percent inside the arc and had 12 shots blocked.

That said, Duke still won both of those games, and I fully expect Duke to win this one.

It's not because the Blue Devils are unbeatable, but because the Tar Heels are astoundingly beatable. They are one of the worst shooting teams in the country, and their best shooter (Brandon Robinson) is questionable with an ankle injury that caused him to miss the Florida State game.

Anthony scored 26 on 14 field-goal attempts last weekend, and North Carolina still lost to Boston College. He would probably need to put up 40 for the Tar Heels to have a fighting chance. Considering no individual has registered more than 27 in a game against Duke's defense yet this season, best of luck to him on that quest.

Prediction: Duke 76, North Carolina 61

              

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @kerrancejames.

The 2019-20 college basketball season is seemingly missing star power, which Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski attributes to early NBA draft entrants. 

"I think the whole state of college basketball has been hurt by how many kids have tested the waters," Krzyzewski said Tuesday, per Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports. "It's not the one-and-dones. We've lost about 70 or 80 kids who weren't even drafted."

Per Thamel, at least 85 underclassmen went undrafted over the past two years. While there are only 60 picks in the NBA draft, 86 underclassmen declared last season alone.

Duke has seen this problem firsthand as a team that recruits and develops top talent every year.

The Blue Devils had lottery picks Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish leave last season after their freshman campaigns. However, center Marques Bolden left with a year of eligibility remaining and went undrafted.

Four Duke players were selected in 2018, but Trevon Duval was not taken after he left following his freshman year.

Some of those who left early could've developed into college stars if they had stayed, improving the sport.

Five straight Wooden Award winners from 2014 to 2018 played at least three seasons in college until Williamson won the award last season. 

Krzyzewski has had a lot of success relying on freshmen in recent years, but he doesn't like the overall landscape of college basketball.

"I wish the whole thing would change," he said.

With the G League raising salaries and more opportunities coming for international careers, the NCAA appears to be falling behind.

Frustration boiled over for North Carolina head coach Roy Williams following his team's 65-59 loss to No. 8 Florida State on Monday night. 

Speaking to reporters after the game, Williams said he's "pissed off right now" with the way the Tar Heels have performed. 

North Carolina has dropped seven of its last nine games and is 10-12 overall in 2019-20.

This is only the third time the Tar Heels have lost at least 12 games in a season under Williams dating back to 2003-04. He has never posted a losing record in 31 years as a head coach at North Carolina and Kansas coming into this season.

Expectations were high for North Carolina coming into this season. The program was ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll. Williams and his staff had the ninth-ranked recruiting class, headlined by Cole Anthony and Armando Bacot, per 247Sports.

Things haven't come together for the Tar Heels thus far. Anthony leads the team in scoring (19.8 points per game), but he's shooting just 36.7 percent overall. Williams' usual high-octane offense ranks 176th in points per game (71.4). 

There isn't any time for Williams to breathe in his quest for answers, with North Carolina preparing to host No. 7 Duke on Saturday. 

Cole Anthony has no plans to leave the University of North Carolina amid a down year for the program as the star freshman guard continues to rehab a knee injury suffered early in the season.

The former McDonald's All-American was a five-star recruit coming out of high school and was named to the preseason Wooden Award watch list. UNC is currently 10-10 (3-6 ACC) this season. 

"I'm like, 'Yo, I'm all-in.' I want to play with these guys again," Anthony said, per the Associated Press (h/t/ ESPN). "I don't like how I left the court with these dudes. I feel like I can give them a lot more than I did. When I get back on the court, I'm going to leave everything there."

Tired of seeing all this talk my mind is made up‼️ can’t wait to get back on the court with my brothers @UNC_Basketball #soon

— Cole Anthony (@The_ColeAnthony) January 22, 2020

   

Anthony, who was averaging 19.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, hasn't played since a December 8 loss to No. 5 Virginia, and while North Carolina's problems run deeper than one missing piece, the Tar Heels' drop off since then has been noticeable. 

UNC is just 4-7 since Anthony's injury and has fallen to the bottom of the ACC standings. Barring a conference tournament victory, a trip to the NCAA tournament this March seems improbable. Anthony's presence could certainly help the Tar Heels make a run in the ACC Tournament, but when he can return—and what level he can play at should that happen—remains a mystery. 

Anthony told the AP he's getting better "slowly but surely." He's now at the six-week mark in his recovery after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus in his right knee and noted he's still feeling a little pain. Rather than push through it, Anthony said he wants to make sure he's at "110 percent" before he returns to the floor. 

Given his NBA draft stock, it's hard to fault him. 

Anthony was considered a one-and-done recruit before even stepping foot in Chapel Hill. As the team he committed to began to crumble, it would have been all too easy for the freshman to worry about his own future rather than helping his team bounce back. 

As long as he's able to rejoin his teammates, it sounds as though Anthony is willing to do so. 

A battle of two of the ACC's best men's basketball teams went No. 11 Louisville's way as the Cardinals defeated the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils 79-73 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, on Saturday.

Freshman guard David Johnson scored a career-high 19 points off the bench for the Cardinals, who never trailed after the opening 3:03. Johnson added seven assists, three steals and two blocks.

Duke freshman guard Cassius Stanley paced his team with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Fellow freshman Matthew Hurt added 16 points for the Blue Devils.

Louisville led 25-10 in the first half, but Duke slowly crept back and even tied the game on multiple occasions in the second half.

The Cardinals retook the lead and held a 73-70 edge with 3:11 left following two Dwayne Sutton free throws. The Blue Devils had four possessions to get within one or tie the game, but they came up empty each time, and six late Louisville points sealed the win.

Louisville pulled off the upset win despite leading scorer Jordan Nwora having an off night with just six points on 3-of-12 shooting.

The Cardinals (15-3 overall, 6-1 ACC) are tied with Florida State atop the conference, while Duke (15-3, 5-2 ACC) fell to third.

Louisville has won four straight games after losing to FSU 78-65 on Jan. 4.

The Blue Devils lost their second straight game after being taken down by the Clemson Tigers 79-72 last Tuesday behind 47 combined points from Aamir Simms and Tevin Mack. The defeat marked their second loss to an unranked opponent this year after falling to Stephen F. Austin 85-83 in overtime in November.

      

Notable Performances

Louisville F Jordan Nwora: 6 PTS, 8 REB

Louisville F Dwayne Sutton: 13 PTS, 5 REB

Louisville G David Johnson: 19 PTS, 7 AST

Duke C Vernon Carey Jr.: 12 PTS, 6 REB

Duke F Matthew Hurt: 16 PTS

Duke G Cassius Stanley: 24 PTS, 11 REB

      

David Johnson Serves as the Unlikely Louisville Hero

Johnson entered Saturday with just 48 points over 13 games. Between Nov. 29 and Jan. 11, Johnson went 10 games without scoring more than five points.

There's no doubt Johnson is a talented player capable of helping guide Louisville to a national title in a wide-open year. The 4-star recruit came to Louisville ranked 82nd in the class of 2019, per 247Sports, and 13th among combo guards.

But Saturday served as Johnson's breakout game on what might be the Cardinals' biggest national stage until March.

Seventeen of his points came in the first half alone, punctuated by this hammer dunk:

.@davidjohnson13 made his presence known right out the gate with 17 points in the first half and a ‼️#GoCards #MustSeeACC | @LouisvilleMBB pic.twitter.com/x2E5Gc2Nrj

— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) January 19, 2020

Ten of those points occurred in a 2:58 span, which helped turn an 11-6 Louisville edge into a 23-9 lead.

It was an impressive result given a left shoulder injury that he suffered in July forced him to miss the beginning of the season and kept him out until Nov. 20. Any rust that Johnson had to work through appears to be long gone, though.

Jeff Goodman of Stadium noted how much of an X-factor Johnson is when healthy:

A year ago, Louisville blew a 23-point lead to Duke and lost at home. This time, the Cards hung on & picked up a HUGE road victory at Cameron.

The key, though, is David Johnson’s health. The frosh showed Louisville is a completely different team with the ball in his hands.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) January 19, 2020

And Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports urged fans to jump on the bandwagon now:

David Johnson. Buy Stock Now.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) January 19, 2020

Johnson was forced to leave the court after suffering a left shoulder injury late in the game, but Cardinals head coach Chris Mack provided some encouraging news, per Danielle Lerner of The Athletic.

Chris Mac says David thought he sprained his left shoulder (same one he hurt this summer), but said it didn't feel the same as the last time and he thinks it'll be fine. Training staff hasn't really gotten to look in depth yet

— Danielle Lerner (@danielle_lerner) January 19, 2020

Now the question is whether Johnson will get more playing time or even enter the starting lineup. Mack addressed that as well:

Mack says he doesn't know if this will make David Johnson the automatic starter at PG, but it will probably increase his minutes. "He's moving in the right direction, I've been saying that for a while."

— Danielle Lerner (@danielle_lerner) January 19, 2020

In a college hoops season where no dominant team exists, the Cardinals can storm through an open door and emerge as the third ACC team to win the NCAA tournament in four years. Johnson helps make that possible, as he's the type of explosive player who could be a serious problem come March.

       

Cassius Stanley's Career-Best Game Can't Save Duke

Despite a tough loss, there are a few positives to take away for Duke.

For one, Duke probably isn't going to shoot 37.1 percent from the field very often the rest of the way. A 6-of-25 shooting performance from three won't be commonplace either.

Yes, the Blue Devils defense didn't fare well in allowing four Cardinals not named Nwora to score in double digits, but Duke is winning this game if it has even a mediocre night from the field.

That didn't happen, but Duke can also be encouraged by the fact that Stanley has been phenomenal of late.

He's averaged 17.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game over his last five while shooting 56.4 percent from the field.

His 24 points and 11 boards on Saturday paced all players, and his second-half dunk helped key a crucial Duke comeback to erase a 15-point deficit.

Duke's Cassius Stanley taking flight in Cameron Indoor ✈️ pic.twitter.com/9rVHd66aLv

— ESPN (@espn) January 19, 2020

A hamstring injury suffered in late November against Winthrop is a distant memory, as are the game-time restrictions he faced following his return.

And that puts Duke in great position for March success, even if the last two games have not gone as planned.

The bottom line is that Duke is a young and developing team whose stars are freshmen. It's nothing new in the college basketball landscape, but it's possible Duke takes its lumps now and starts peaking when it really counts in the spring.

Stanley's recent outings give hope that can be the case. Of note, he earned his first double-double with 12 minutes still left in the game. That's an incredible accomplishment for any player, let alone a freshman against the No. 11 team in the country:

Freshman Cassius Stanley has his first career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds (11:57 left vs. Louisville).

It is his third career 20-point game.#DukeMBBStats

— #DukeMBBStats (@DukeMBBStats) January 19, 2020

With Stanley and Vernon Carey Jr. leading the way, Duke has as much of a chance as any team to win the national title. The team is too talented to not contend, even if this week would imply otherwise.

         

What's Next?

Duke will stay home to face Miami on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. Louisville will host Georgia Tech at KFC Yum Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Another Top 5 men's college basketball team fell to an unranked opponent as Clemson beat No. 3 Duke 79-72 on Tuesday.

THEY'RE STORMING THE COURT IN CLEMSON!@ClemsonMBB takes down No. 3 Duke! pic.twitter.com/S1U4V5XQiK

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) January 15, 2020

Aamir Simms and Tevin Mack propelled the host Tigers to a win at Littlejohn Coliseum. Simms had 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists on 10-of-15 shooting. Mack's 22 points came on 10-of-14 shooting, and he also added nine boards and a pair of blocks.  

Clemson shot 56.6 percent from the field as a team.

Vernon Carey Jr. paced the Blue Devils with 20 points and seven rebounds, and Tre Jones contributed 17 points, five boards and four assists.

The Tigers jumped out to a 40-33 halftime lead, with a John Newman III poster dunk acting as the main highlight.

John Newman III, POSTER TIME 😤 pic.twitter.com/vtM5L9SBM8

— ESPN (@espn) January 15, 2020

However, a Blue Devil 7-0 run helped Duke earn a 55-52 edge with 9:55 left after a Carey layup.

A Jack White three later gave the Blue Devils a 62-59 advantage, but Simms and Mack combined to score nine of the Tigers' points during an 11-2 run in response. A Simms free throw with 3:05 left capped the rally and provided Clemson with a 70-64 lead it wouldn't relinquish.

The Blue Devils were unable to come any closer than five points for the remainder of the game.

Clemson started its season 5-1 but underwent an ugly 1-6 stretch capped by a 73-68 home loss to Miami in overtime on Dec. 31. The Tigers have since rolled off three wins against North Carolina teams, beating NC State, UNC and Duke.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, the Tigers had not beaten UNC and Duke in the same season since 1995-96.

Clemson entered the game as a +475 moneyline underdog ($100 bet to win $475), per B/R Betting. The result is surprising at first glance, but it is symbolic of a chaotic college hoops season in which Top 5 upsets are routine.

Duke was on the wrong end of another earlier in the season as the then-No. 1 ranked Blue Devils lost to unranked Stephen F. Austin at home. Kentucky, Louisville and Virginia have also lost to unranked teams while in the Top 5.

The Blue Devils (15-2 overall, 5-1 ACC) will look to bounce back against No. 11 Louisville at home on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. Clemson (9-7 overall, 3-3 ACC) will visit NC State at 2 p.m. on the same day.