Kyle Filipowski appears to trip Harrison Ingram during Duke vs. North Carolina
At one point in the first half of Duke vs. North Carolina, Kyle Filipowski got caught up in a collision with Harrison Ingram, sending both to the floor. As Ingram got up, though, Filipowski appeared to stick out his foot and trip him.
Filipowski then stood up and appeared to favor his leg as he headed to the bench with 5:25 to play in the first half. He ended up returning with 2:29 to go before halftime and looked to help Duke get back into the game after a slow start.
North Carolina held a 33-21 lead at the time of the incident, and although the Blue Devils made a run to close the gap, the Tar Heels took a 40-31 advantage into halftime. It would’ve been 38-31, but Ingram hit a bucket as time expired to give UNC some more momentum.
The Duke-North Carolina rivalry is arguably the best in college basketball and is almost always a high-stakes affair. There’s more to play for than just a rivalry victory, though. Whichever team wins will also become the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament as the conference champion.
Of course, there was some bulletin board material during the lead-up to the game. Earlier this season, North Carolina forward Armando Bacot said the ACC “runs through me” following his big performance against Duke in Chapel Hill.
Duke’s Jeremy Roach responded to those comments on College GameDay on Saturday and made his prediction for how things would shake out at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“I mean yeah, obviously yeah. You hear stuff like that, and he has the right to say that right now. But we’re not too worried about that,” Roach said, regarding Bacot’s comments. “We’ve got another game to play. They got round one, we’re going to get round two.”
Roach was alluding to the previous matchup between the two teams earlier this season. That took place in Chapel Hill, with North Carolina coming away with the 93-84 victory over then-No. 7 Duke. This time around, the Tar Heels were ranked No. 7 while the Blue Devils came in at No. 9 in the latest AP Top 25.
The second half is shaping up to be a fun one, especially with a No. 1 seed on the line. After Saturday, all eyes will turn toward Washington, D.C. for the ACC Tournament.
Steve Samra contributed to this report.