YouTube Gold: Another Look At The 2020 Duke-UNC Classic

Every so often when we’re looking for a good YouTube Gold, we go back to something we’ve featured before. We do that for a couple of possible reasons: 1) we just like to watch something glorious again, like, say, watching Christian Laettner RIP THE STILL BEATING HEART OUT OF KENTUCKY BASKETBALL - that never gets old - or 2) because it’s worth a second look.

So by chance we caught the end of Duke’s amazing overtime win in Chapel Hill in 2020.

Time tends to change one’s perception. For instance we started to call it a double overtime win before we caught the mistake. And like a lot of people we’re guessing, the end of regulation and overtime was so compelling we forgot that UNC was up by 13 with 4:25 left and that Vernon Carey fouled out nine seconds later.

This video is a collection of key plays late in that game and some things really jump out.

First, in the last 3:40, UNC gave up eight points on the free throw line.

Second, Cole Anthony tried the same basic drive twice in the closing minutes of regulation and missed both.

And overtime? UNC fought back to grab a six point lead with just :20 left at 96-91. But Duke’s Tre Jones hit a layup with just :16 left.

Then Jones missed a free throw on that play but Moore got a rebound and a layup to cut the lead to one and then of course got the winning basket as time expired.

And just in general, look how many chances UNC had on both ends, right up to the final play.

Math around here is usually shaky but it looks like UNC hit 5-14 from the free throw line in the last 3:40 which works out to 35.7 percent. If UNC had hit just 50 percent in the last 3:40, or just two more free throws, Tre Jones could not have put that game into overtime.