Brownlow: Carolina was Carolina again, but it was too little, too late

By Lauren Brownlow, WRALSportsFan columnist/reporter

Chapel Hill, N.C. — Sure, Duke-Carolina is always great. But this version wasn't supposed to be great. Or even good.

And it was anyway.

Maybe that's what made the way it ended so cruel to North Carolina, in the midst of a season that's nothing like what it's used to at all. The Tar Heels are 10-13. They're not going to make the NCAA Tournament without winning the ACC Tournament.

For a brief moment, North Carolina was North Carolina again.

"I told them, today I saw the team I thought we were going to have in the preseason," Roy Williams said after the game.

"I don't know what's happened the whole year," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "but they were Carolina tonight."

And just like that, it was gone.

The knockout punch came, even more cruelly, on a play that Carolina has made plenty over the years — a tip-out on an offense rebound, resulting in the winning basket as time expired in the second overtime.

And as Moore's shot fell through the hoop, that was it. Duke won, 98-96 in overtime.

When it was over, the only sounds in the Smith Center were the Duke players screaming as they jumped on each other and celebrated jubilantly. Some muffled boos as well, likely directed at Duke players, but probably just general discontentment from the crowd not knowing quite what to think.

All five of the players on the court for North Carolina walked towards their bench, standing facing the fans, but not looking at them — not looking at anyone, really. Just staring blankly into space, stone-faced, looking for an answer that wouldn't come.

Justin Pierce dropped down, putting his elbows on his knees as he crouched, looking at the floor and shaking his head at it as if it wasn't giving him the right answer. Garrison Brooks just stared. Cole Anthony was shaking his head and saying something to himself.

But mostly it was just ... stunned silence. For the team and the fans. Some were crying. Most just could do or say nothing. Only random cries of "Go Duke!" punctuated the stillness as the crowd made its way en masse back into the cold night.

The North Carolina crowd had felt it coming long before it actually did. When North Carolina took a 13-point lead with 5:35 to go, it felt like the crowd knew that every possession the Tar Heels didn't score was just opening the door a crack wider for Duke to walk through, and a crack wider, and a crack wider.

Eventually, Duke didn't even have to open the door but just walk through an already-open one to tie the game.

But it took an insane intentional missed free throw by Tre Jones and a putback to do it. Up by three late, Carolina made sure it fouled this time instead of allowing the game-tying 3-pointer as it did against Clemson.

So Williams called timeout and reminded them to foul, and even that didn't work.

"That's an unbelievable play and he's really a tough, tough kid," Williams said. "You're happy for him but he's not on my team."

In an odd way, it's felt like the basketball gods were trying to give Carolina every bad break imaginable this season in order to make up for all the good ones this program has gotten in the past. Injuries? Yes. Anthony's is well-known, but North Carolina's senior leader who'd been having a really nice year was on the bench in a suit after an ankle injury suffered on a freak play at the end of a loss to Boston College and had already missed time after being hit by a drunk driver earlier this season. Painful losses? Yes. Giving up double-digit leads? Oh yes.

There's been plenty to point to as to why, and plenty beyond bad breaks. Carolina wasn't making shots. It didn't have Cole Anthony, or any number of injured players. It wasn't defending well enough. All of those things have been true throughout this season.

This win over Duke, though, would have been proof of everything Williams has been trying to get them to buy into all season.

Instead, it was yet another punch to the stomach of a boxer who's already holding the ropes and struggling to stay up so the fight isn't stopped.

Red-eyed and sad, Williams clearly was and is feeling the impact of this season, and has been wearing it on his face all year long as well. He's never been one way to hide his emotions anyway, and this season is no different.

"We had some opportunities that we didn't take advantage of and that in some ways has been our story several times, but it doesn't make any difference," Williams said.

Where Carolina goes from here is anyone's guess. Duke was a No. 2 seed in the latest NCAA Tournament bracket projections released by the committee. North Carolina would need a miracle to get into the NIT.

But all they can do is keep playing.

"The old coach isn't gonna frickin' quit," Williams said, folding up the box score and putting it in his pocket, "and they're not either."