Duke’s Wendell Moore Jr. Nails Buzzer-Beater in OT Against UNC

CHAPEL HILL – In the 100th year anniversary of the Duke-North Carolina rivalry, the 252nd edition at the Dean E. Smith Center tonight came down to the last shot –  not once, but twice.

Down 84-82, Duke sophomore guard Tre Jones drilled a buzzer-beater to send the game into overtime after North Carolina turned the ball over on an inbound pass.

At the end of overtime, Jones drew a foul on North Carolina graduate guard Christian Keeling with six seconds remaining. Jones went to the free-throw line and drilled the first shot to tie the game at 96.

Then madness happened.

“We were on the free-throw line,” said Duke freshman guard Wendell Moore Jr., “and Tre (Jones)  missed the free throw.  and I happened to get a hand on the ball. The ball went out. (Jordan Goldwire) went and got it,  got it back to (Jones),  (Jones) shot the jump shot, and I thought it was going in, but I just kept seeing the ball keep going, and I just thought that I could go get it. And I tried to make a play on the ball.

“And the ball went in.”

Jones led Duke to a 98-96 victory. He finished with 28 points. North Carolina (10-13, 3-9 ACC) led by 9 points with 2:06 left in the game. According to Duke (20-3, 10-2 ACC)  head coach Mike Krzyzewski, he kept his teammates’ spirits up when they trailed late.

“Down the stretch in the second half, we were down,” said Jones. “I attacked a few times. Got a couple of good looks then. For sure, once we got into overtime, I knew we weren’t losing no matter what. I air-balled two shots. They got a couple of their looks back. They had the momentum – crowd back into it – we were still able to come back and answer. 

“So I just think that speaks on the team we have. The work that we put in. We showed how young we were a little bit in the first half, but the way we just fought in the second half, I feel like we grew up tonight.”

Moore finished tied his career-high with 17 points. He grabbed 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double.

“Really it just means everything to me,” Moore said. “A kid growing up from Charlotte, watching this game for 18 years of my life and then getting a chance to be a part of it with a group of guys like this. Just the things that we overcame in this game meant everything to us. That we knew this was a big game for us and this was a game we had to win. “

North Carolina freshman guard Cole Anthony finished as UNC’s leading scorer with 24 points.

What’s Next 

Tonight marked the second-consecutive tough loss for North Carolina. They travel to Winston-Salem to play the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. 

“We just gotta get back – regroup,” Anthony said. “Obviously, it’s gonna hurt tonight, but we got practice tomorrow. We just gotta regroup. We just gotta come in and refocus.”

Duke returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium to host the No. 8 Florida State Seminoles (20-3, 10-2 ACC) Monday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m.