North Carolina Tar Heels at Duke Blue Devils

With Zion injured, No. 8 UNC routs No. 1 Duke 88-72

Luke Maye took full advantage of a freak injury to the freshman sensation, finishing with 30 points and 15 rebounds to help the Tar Heels rout Duke 88-72 on Wednesday night.

"Obviously, you lose a national player of the year candidate," coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "there are going to be gaps of what you have to do."

"It was just a shock for us," Duke forward Cameron Reddish said. "Obviously, we're used to playing with him, so playing without him was very difficult. We missed him today."

Williamson grabbed the knee in pain after slipping awkwardly and falling when his left Nike shoe fell apart as he planted hard while dribbling near the free throw line. The blue rubber sole ripped loose from the white shoe from the heel to the toes along the outside edge, with Williamson's foot coming all the way through the large gap.

Nike said in a statement that it was "concerned" and wished Williamson a speedy recovery. It said it was "working to identify the issue."

Coach Mike Krzyzewski classified the injury as a mild sprain, but didn't know how much time Williamson will miss.

Cameron Johnson added 26 points and Garrison Brooks had 14 for the Tar Heels (21-5, 11-2).

By winning their ninth in 10 games and beating a top-ranked team for the first time since 2013, they pulled into a first-place tie with the Blue Devils (23-3, 11-2).

Duke looked lost without Williamson. Meanwhile, North Carolina took advantage of the Zion-sized hole in the lane, scoring 32 of its first 34 points in the paint and finishing with a 62-28 scoring advantage there. The Tar Heels never trailed, pushed their lead to 22 on Johnson's layup with about 16 minutes left and held on.

BIG PICTURE

North Carolina: This was quite a statement from the Tar Heels, who followed up the most lopsided ACC road victory in school history with a lopsided win at Cameron and their first win over a No. 1 since knocking off Michigan State in December 2013.

"We've always had our destiny in front of us," Maye said.

Duke: The result of the game seems secondary to Williamson's health, given how much he means to the Blue Devils and their national title hopes. Now the question is how the Blue Devils will handle playing without arguably the biggest star in the sport. Each of Duke's losses since November came at home after a key freshman was injured early, with point guard Tre Jones' shoulder injury leading to an overtime loss to Syracuse.

"You go in with your game plan, get into the game, and then 36 seconds in, one of your key guys goes out," Barrett said. "It was tough for us to bounce back from that, and North Carolina really punched us the whole way through."

POLL POINTS

REMATCH

Mark your calendar: These two meet again March 9 in Chapel Hill.

UP NEXT

North Carolina: Hosts No. 16 Florida State on Saturday.

Duke: At Syracuse on Saturday night.

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(This version deletes an incorrect reference to this being North Carolina's most lopsided win at Duke since 1989.)

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