As the clock ran down in UNC’s 84-79 win over Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Cormac Ryan put his finger to his lips and told the Cameron Crazies to shush.
His gesture came nearly two hours late. Cameron Indoor was loud, raucous and crowded on Senior Night, when Duke fans bid farewell Jeremy Roach. Carolina, the archrival, was in town, and the crowd was hungry for revenge following a loss in Chapel Hill in February. Decibel levels hit 113 during pregame introductions.
Ryan then got the ball rolling. UNC took a five-point advantage after two minutes of the game with a three-pointer in the right corner during a fast-break. Sixteen seconds after that, he made another shot from the same position. Elliot Cadeau recovered the loose ball just under two minutes after Ryan’s first three. This time, Ryan was on the move. UNC now led 15-4.
“That was the story of the whole game for me,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer. “They came out and got a 15-point lead (three and a half minutes after Ryan’s third three-pointer). We outscored them the rest of the game.”
“They came out & hit us first,” Scheyer added. “The last nine games, we’ve been hitting other people first.”
Duke-Carolina matches are well known.
