Inside the boxscore: Duke 85, UNC 84

1. In Duke's last game, a home loss to Miami, Mason Plumlee played just 28 minutes (in an overtime game), and he sat out for long stretches of the 2nd half, including the final 4:14 of regulation because he couldn't do anything to stop Hurricane big man Reggie Johnson. Against UNC's smaller (lighter) bigs, playing time wasn't an issue. He played the 2nd most minutes this season and pulled down 14 rebounds, including 4 which extended possessions on the offensive end. He barely missed his 10th double-double of the season (8 points, 14 boards).

2. Austin Rivers scored 29 points in his first UNC-Duke game, and made a little basket at the end that mattered. He made 3-6 2s, 6-10 3s and 5-8 FTs. He set new career highs for points (29), 3s (6), and tied his best with two offensive rebounds. With Dexter Strickland out with an injury, the Tar Heels had no one who could keep him out of the lane. If he somehow stays for another year and learns how to distribute the ball, his presence alone will make Duke a National Title contender, with or without Mason Plumlee.

3. North Carolina's loss dropped them to 7-2 in the ACC. Earlier in the night, FSU was stunned at BC, which means that North Carolina could have taken control of the race for the #1 seed in the ACC Tournament. Instead, it's back to a 3-way tie with the Seminoles holding the tiebreaker over each team. Duke or UNC has finished atop the ACC regular season in eight straight years.

4. This was an 85-84 game, with 72 possessions. The Tar Heels allowed 1.18 points per possession, which was their 2nd worst effort of the season (1.184 to FSU). Duke allowed 1.17 points per possession, which was their 2nd worst effort of the season (1.29 to Ohio State). It was the highest scoring Duke-UNC game since February 11th, 2009, when UNC scored 1.28 per trip and Duke scored 1.10 per trip in a 101-87 Tar Heel win in Cameron.

5. UNC played 10 players. Three played two minutes or less. All five starters played at least 33, and point guard Kendall Marshall played 38. All seven players who played at least 10 minutes were consensus top-25 recruits (the rest of the conference combines for 8), but depth beyond them will be an issue in March. UNC's bench scored 6 points on 3-9 shooting and committed 6 fouls.