Favorite unc Losses Witnessed

[UrinalCake]

I think you need to have a whole separate category for non-Duke losses. Any time we beat them it's going to carry additional meaning. I enjoyed seeing them lose to Georgetown in the tournament in what was I think Hansbrough's junior year. Greg Monroe laid the smackdown on the big dumb oaf the way we never could.

[RPS]

This is at best a bittersweet memory to me because it was followed just a week later by an ignominious defeat to the same Holes in the ACC Tourney. However, it did result in an epic quote from SI: "least iron in a half".

My favorite in person UNC defeats are this one (1979) and the 1981 Tinkerball and roses classic.

[devilsince1977]

Any loss to Duke ranks above all others. After that I would say Tournament losses. The ones that come to mind are the NCAA loss to Nova last year, 2010 NIT loss to Dayton -- made especially sweet with our NCAA crown, 1984 Indiana in sweet 16 (good bye MJ) and Weber State in 1999.

Any loss when Hansborough was on the floor. I loved to see him cry like a spoiled child.

Now that I think about it; I celebrate every time they loose. I would pull for the Russians before I would root for the Cheats.

Although I detest a Clemson; the Cheats first home loss to Clemson was fabulous, never mind still waiting on that one.

[weezie]

Ooo, oooo, the loss to GTech in the then MCI Center during the 2005 ACC tournament. THAT was super fun, even if the holes did go onto some other tournament thing win.

[chrishoke]

I have to say, watching Art Heyman drop 40 on the heels and Duke break 100 in his home final was pretty sweet!

[Tommac]

When I was a senior in HS (71-72), I attended the Duke home game in Cameron against UNC during Robert McAdoo's only year in college. Don't remember much except that Duke won the game and held McAdoo to 3 points for the day. That was a great day.

[arnie]

When I was a senior in HS (71-72), I attended the Duke home game in Cameron against UNC during Robert McAdoo's only year in college. Don't remember much except that Duke won the game and held McAdoo to 3 points for the day. That was a great day.

Was there also and all you need to remember is Robbie West.

[BigZ]

Weber State

[sagegrouse]

I hope this doesn't come across as gloating:

1. The Art Heyman-Larry Brown fight in 1961 -- Duke 81, UNC 77.
2. The Duke win in the last game against Michael Jordan in the ACC tournament in Greensboro in 1984 -- Duke 77, UNC 75.
3. The "Wojo game" on Senior Day in 1998, when Duke fought back from a 17-point deficit -- Duke 77, UNC 75.

[Aladuke]

Was there also and all you need to remember is Robbie West.

Also there for the Robbie West halfcourt toss. Front row where press row is now. Great memory. McAdoo was 1-12, I think.

[stedge]

77-75 1998
82-50 when we took our food off the gas. Could've been 100-50, whichmight have been even better.

[stedge]

Pardonthe mobile typos.

[Philsfan]

ACC Championship game 2011 in Greensboro. Surrounded by cheat fans. We dominated them...how sweet it was.

I was there as well, sitting in an-all cheat section. Only one left with about 3 minutes to go. It was glorious!

[jv001]

I'm too young to go back too far, but 82-50 is my pick. There was something so cathartic about 82-50. UNC had beaten Duke in four consecutive games in Cameron. The Cheats had won two titles since Duke last went to a Final Four. Only a complete and utter demolition of UNC that all but guaranteed an NIT appearance for the Sheep would do. And that is exactly what we did. It's hard for one win to make up for four straight seasons of disappointment in Cameron, but 82-50 was about as close as a win could get. That we went on to win the title a few weeks later makes it even sweeter. That we've gone on to reestablish our ascendancy in the rivalry since makes 82-50 standout as a turning point.

This^ !!!!

The 82-50 game is my favorite basketball loss for the cheats. The best non-Duke football loss was when the Cheats played Oklahoma. All my cheat friends/fans kept saying well the Sooners might pass the ball against us but they'll get nothing on the ground. The reason they said that was because Lawrence Taylor was on that team. I think the cheats lost something like 45-0 and ran the ball down their throats. Well, that's the way I remember it anyway. GoDuke!

[Tom B.]

UNC losses vs. Duke:

• 1/19/1991 -- My first UNC vs. Duke game in person! Duke wins 74-60, after trailing 28-24 at halftime. Hung 50 on 'em in the second half. Laettner has 18 and 12; Thomas Hill comes off the bench to score 20 in 23 minutes.
  
  
• 3/15/1992 -- Duke pounds UNC 94-74 in the ACC Tournament final. UNC had beaten us in Chapel Hill earlier that year (the game in which Hurley broke his foot). Then we got payback against them in Cameron in the regular season finale. A week later, we win the rubber match decisively, en route to the second of our back-to-back national titles. Very satisfying.
  
  
• 1/29/1997 -- Often forgotten, but a big game in Duke-UNC history, at least from the Duke side. UNC had won seven in a row against Duke dating back to 1993. If Duke can't win at least one of the two games against Carolina in 1997, then it'll be the first time in forever that a class graduates from Duke without ever experiencing a win over Carolina. This was the game in which K broke out the small-ball lineup, benching Greg Newton and starting freshman Chris Carrawell (along with Wojo, Capel, Langdon, and Roshown McLeod) in his place. Duke trails by six late, but the crowd wills the team to one last run. With about a minute and a half to go and the shot clock winding down, Langdon pulls up and buries a deep three-pointer from the right wing (he'd finish with 28 points), and the crowd goes ballistic. Seriously, it's maybe the loudest I've ever heard Cameron. UNC fails to score on its next possession, and Duke salts the game away. In the closing seconds, with Duke up by five, UNC misses a shot and the ball ends up in the hands of a streaking Roshown McLeod, who punctuates the 80-73 win with a full-court fast-break dunk at the final horn. Crowd storms the floor as almost four years of futility against Carolina comes to a cathartic end.
  
  
• 3/8/2002 -- Duke beats Carolina 60-48 in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. Carolina was dreadful that year; this was Matt Doherty's team that went 8-20. Duke had already beaten Carolina badly twice that year (by 29 and 25 points), so Doherty, in desperation, decided to play stall ball. Result: a boring and ugly game that Carolina still lost by double digits. #Sad.

But maybe my favorite Carolina loss that I've witnessed in person didn't come at Duke's hands:

• 3/30/1991 -- Kansas upsets Carolina 79-73 in the national semifinal. Everyone assumed it would be Carolina vs. UNLV in the finals. Nope. Carolina lost, while Duke upset UNLV en route to its first national championship. And to make Carolina's loss that much more delicious, Dean Smith picked up a second technical foul and was ejected in the final minute of the game.

[Tom B.]

• 1/29/1997 -- Often forgotten, but a big game in Duke-UNC history, at least from the Duke side. UNC had won seven in a row against Duke dating back to 1993. If Duke can't win at least one of the two games against Carolina in 1997, then it'll be the first time in forever that a class graduates from Duke without ever experiencing a win over Carolina. This was the game in which K broke out the small-ball lineup, benching Greg Newton and starting freshman Chris Carrawell (along with Wojo, Capel, Langdon, and Roshown McLeod) in his place. Duke trails by six late, but the crowd wills the team to one last run. With about a minute and a half to go and the shot clock winding down, Langdon pulls up and buries a deep three-pointer from the right wing (he'd finish with 28 points), and the crowd goes ballistic. Seriously, it's maybe the loudest I've ever heard Cameron. UNC fails to score on its next possession, and Duke salts the game away. In the closing seconds, with Duke up by five, UNC misses a shot and the ball ends up in the hands of a streaking Roshown McLeod, who punctuates the 80-73 win with a full-court fast-break dunk at the final horn. Crowd storms the floor as almost four years of futility against Carolina comes to a cathartic end.

OK, I slightly misremembered the sequence of events in this game. Duke was actually clinging to a two-point lead when Langdon hit the big three-pointer, with just under a minute left.

Here's the video of the final minute of that game:

https://youtu.be/Iu2HQZFgLpU?t=4861

[BigWayne]

Was there also and all you need to remember is Robbie West.

Google told me it's spelled Robby West. Found a good read on the game.

[BluDvlsN1]

2/8/2012

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Enough said!

[dbcooper]

I'm too young to go back too far, but 82-50 is my pick. There was something so cathartic about 82-50. UNC had beaten Duke in four consecutive games in Cameron. The Cheats had won two titles since Duke last went to a Final Four. Only a complete and utter demolition of UNC that all but guaranteed an NIT appearance for the Sheep would do. And that is exactly what we did. It's hard for one win to make up for four straight seasons of disappointment in Cameron, but 82-50 was about as close as a win could get. That we went on to win the title a few weeks later makes it even sweeter. That we've gone on to reestablish our ascendancy in the rivalry since makes 82-50 standout as a turning point.

I loved this game and lets remember, If Duke would not have scored a single point in the 2nd half... Duke would have still won!! It was Beautiful and Intoxicating to take in - this win was!

[howardlander]

Airrrr-balllllll. 7-0 halftime.

Cost me a relationship with a very attractive and sweet unc coed. Worth it.

My birthday sophomore year. Great memory.

Howard