Ryan's career night leads UNC to sweep of Duke, regular-season ACC title

By Brian Murphy, WRAL

7North Carolina Tar Heels	84
9Duke Blue Devils	79
Final

Durham, N.C. — Cormac Ryan's intensity is a known commodity among his North Carolina teammates.

The transfer from Notre Dame that his fellow Tar Heels affectionately refer to as a "psycho" showed that fire Saturday night at Duke — from the his barrage of 3-pointers in the first minutes, to clutch 3-pointers and free throws in the final minutes and even after the buzzer when he waved, pointed and made his way toward the jeering Blue Devil student section.

Behind Ryan's career-high 31 points, the Tar Heels defeated rival Duke 84-79 at Cameron Indoor Stadium to claim their first outright ACC regular-season title since 2017.

No. 7 UNC (25-6, 17-3 in the ACC) will be the top seed at next week's ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C.

"I just love to compete," Ryan said. "I love to play hard. I'm a little wild at times and it's all love from my guys. I'm just so proud that we were able to come in here. We knew what it meant. We knew what was at stake and to walk out of this building with the W is always nice."

Ryan knocked down his first three 3-point attempts of the game as UNC stormed to a 15-4 lead in the first four minutes. The Tar Heels led by as many as 15 in the first half and 12 in the second half, but still needed some finishing touches from Ryan.

He delivered, making two critical 3-pointers in the final four minutes and draining four free throws in the final seconds to finish off the Blue Devils (24-7, 15-5).

Ryan, Armando Bacot and the rest of the Tar Heels waved to the Duke students when the game ended. The students responded by throwing ice and water onto the court.

"I love playing in these environments," said Ryan, whose set his previous career high of 28 points at Duke. "I love being in front of the fire. I love it."

He was 6-of-8 from 3-point range and 9-of-10 from the line. Ryan became the seventh UNC player to score 30 or more points at Duke, joining a list that includes, among others, Michael Jordan and Hubert Davis.

Ryan competes at everything, according to this teammates. Drinking water. Being the first to get on the bus. The first to get off the bus.

"He's always intense," said UNC forward Harrison Ingram. "I feel like personally he's a psycho. I'm a little scared of him."

UNC veteran stars RJ Davis (nine points) and Armando Bacot (nine) were held in check by the Blue Devils.

But it was a trio of Tar Heel transfers — Ryan, Ingram and Jae'lyn Withers — that came through in one of the toughest environments in college basketball.

Ingram had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Withers added six points and eight rebounds off the bench.

"They came back for this," UNC coach Hubert Davis said of RJ Davis and Bacot. "They came back to experience this."

When needing a win against Duke in the regular-season finale to claim an outright conference title or a share of it, UNC is 9-0 since 2005.

Winning the regular-season title outright — and not sharing it with the Blue Devils, who will be the No. 2 seed at the conference tournament — was the first of several milestones remaining.

"Obviously we know what we really want to do," Bacot said, referencing the national title. "So we're just knocking off goals."

It was disappointment for Duke, which could have earned a share of the regular-season title with a win. The Blue Devils cut their deficit to 1 in the second half, but UNC responded with a 13-4 run.

In the final frantic minute, Duke trimmed the deficit to 3.

Senior Jeremy Roach, who was honored before the game, struggled. He was 3-of-12 from the field and finished with 13 points. Four Blue Devils scored in double figures, led by Kyle Filipowski's 23.

"I just didn’t play well," Roach said. "I just put this on me."

But Duke's defense allowed the Tar Heels to shoot 50% from the field and never got the string of stops it needed to grab the lead.

"Just too many plays throughout," Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. "We have to learn from this. You have to learn and understand those possessions."

In the first match-up between the two teams this season, North Carolina beat Duke 93-84 on Feb. 3.