In this season’s second rendition of the greatest rivalry in college sports, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels bested the Duke Blue Devils to pull even in the season series. Before the game began, UNC had already clinched the ACC regular season championship thanks to a Notre Dame loss hours before, yet the game still held great importance for Duke. A win for Duke would’ve meant a 3 or 4 seed in the ACC tournament, giving them a double-bye from the first two rounds of the tourney. The loss dropped them to the 5 seed in the tournament, taking away one of those potential rest and preparation days. The usual added importance of the rivalry showed on the court as well, with neither team letting up on either end of the court. Duke sent out their usual starting five, contrasted to UNC’s first five featuring their five seniors Nate Britt, Stillman White, Kanler Coker, Isaiah Hicks, and Kennedy Meeks as a part of the senior night celebrations. The first half featured eighteen lead changes throughout the twenty minutes, and UNC lead 48-46 at the end of it. The Heels were lead by Junior guard Joel Berry II who shot a perfect 5-5 from beyond the arc on his way to nineteen first half points, countering the rest of his team’s abysmal 0-8 start from deep. Things got heated towards the end of the first half, with Duke guard and king of controversy Grayson Allen receiving a technical foul for elbowing UNC player Brandon Robinson in the face after the whistle.

The game continued its seesaw nature throughout the second half, each team matching the other’s run as time ticked away. Duke tied it up at 71 with just over six minutes left, and UNC immediately countered with a 6-0 run. Duke found a couple of big shots after, pulling back within one with four minutes left, only to see the Tar Heels hit a couple of shots that gave them the lead they would finish the game with. Duke was lead by sophomore guard Luke Kennard, who matched Berry II with 28 points in the game. UNC senior Isaiah Hicks added 21 points and 9 rebounds, including the 1,000 point of his career, becoming the 76th Tar Heel to reach that mark.

The big announcement came at halftime, courtesy of the GOAT himself, Michael Jordan. Jordan Brand announced that they were partnering with UNC football, the second college football program to wear Jordan. Michael gave a speech at halftime, shaking the world to its core when he claimed “the ceiling is the roof”. Did his Airness misspeak, or did he simply say something so profound, that it went over all of our heads? Someone finally was able to break it down, explaining his words to the common folk. UNC football plays its home football games at Kenan Memorial Stadium, an open air stadium with no roof. A ceiling is commonly referred to as maximum potential, and since there is no roof on the stadium, there is no limit to the Heel’s potential.

Go Heels.