The game everyone was waiting to see, the game that got all the attention leading into 2022 Final Four week is finally here on Saturday night. We previewed the game here at DefPen this week as did just about everyone with eyes on college basketball. The stories and build-up were warranted, especially coming off the heels of the shocking upset North Carolina pulled on Duke last month in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Coach K’s final home game. It’s the first time the schools are meeting in the NCAA Tournament and it’s in the Final Four. The storylines were writing themselves at the Final Four being labeled the Blue Blood Final Four and Kansas already having moved on to the championship game on Monday.
Even with the four Blue Bloods at this Final Four, all eyes were still on this matchup and it absolutely delivered. So let’s hop into the recap of what happened in this historic tournament matchup between two longtime rivals.
No. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 2 Duke
North Carolina 81 – Duke 77
The hype seemed out of control coming into this one but surprisingly enough, unlike some games that are hyped, this one lived up to the billing and dare I say and then some. The first half was just a game of runs with each team trading haymakers and showing incredible shot-making. It was clear that both teams were as even as the one-to-one split their season series came in as and just like the last 50-plus years of this rivalry has been. North Carolina jumped out to an early advantage while Duke started cold similar to how they did vs Texas Tech in the Sweet 16. The Tar Heels seemed motivated to show that the last matchup was not some fluke and then the Blue Devils woke up and punched right back.
The second half was a great display of shot-making by both teams but what was to follow in the second half was possibly even better. A late and-one by Jeremy Roach in the first half gave Duke a three-point lead at halftime and set the stage for a great finish with a National Championship berth on the line in the 2022 Final Four.
BRADY MANEK ANSWERS FROM DEEP ?#MFinalFour pic.twitter.com/QAWJtmmHud
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 3, 2022
The second half was a true shot-for-shot type of half. In golf terms, it was a true “match play situation” as each team threw punch after punch and haymaker after haymaker. Caleb Love after a rough first half got hot scoring all 28 of his points in the second half and carrying North Carolina to a title game appearance.
CALEB LOVE OMG!!!! ?@UNC_Basketball | #MFinalFour pic.twitter.com/8xdvnYbzQU
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 3, 2022
His dagger late to all but seal the game was arguably the shot of the tournament. Their star big man Armando Bacot had fouled out late and even with that, Love would not let the Tar Heels lose. Now in what many predicted as Duke giving Coach K the storybook ending in his final season will now give Roy Williams who retired quietly last spring, the two teams he coached meeting up for a title. It should be an excellent matchup and we can only hope it lives up to the billing that this game did.
