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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Jason Williams and Carlos Boozer lost their
first two games as collegians -- and not many more since.
Williams scored 23 of his 37 points in the first half and Boozer
added 14 points, 10 rebounds and four steals as No. 3 Duke rolled
over North Carolina 93-68 Sunday.
|  | | Duke's Jason Williams shoots for three of his game-high 37 in his Cameron Indoor finale. |
The two juniors, who plan to turn pro after the season, were
given an emotional sendoff in Cameron Indoor Stadium as the Blue
Devils ended North Carolina's worst regular season in school
history with yet another double-digit loss.
Williams cried as he was introduced prior to the game, wiping
tears from his eyes as he made his way to center court.
Duke is 90-12 and counting since Williams and Boozer arrived on
campus.
"It all kind of hits you at once," said Williams, who was
12-for-22 from the field with five assists and three steals. "It's
not fair to you, to your coaching staff and to your fans to hold
all those emotions back.
"You have to let everybody know that you care and that you are
going to give everything you have your last time out there."
Williams sure gave everything he had.
He made eight 3-pointers and notched the 10th 30-point game of
his three-year career as Duke (26-3, 13-3 Atlantic Coast
Conference) rebounded from its road loss to Virginia three days ago
to complete an undefeated (13-0) home season.
"Jason Williams had a fitting end to his great career here,"
North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said.
Williams' point total was one shy of his career-high, set
earlier this season against Kentucky.
Meanwhile, the loss by the Tar Heels (8-19, 4-12) all but
guaranteed the school's first 20-loss season after winning at least
20 for 31 consecutive seasons.
The Blue Devils will be a heavy favorite to hand North Carolina
that loss when the two meet in the quarterfinals of the ACC
tournament in Charlotte on Friday night.
"They've got a great team," Doherty said. "It's going to be
rough having to play them a third time."
The Cameron Crazies taunted the Tar Heels with a pregame chant
of "Soccer School" as North Carolina fell to 1-10 this season
against ranked teams.
It didn't take Williams long to regain his composure after the
pregame ceremony. He hit his first four shots -- three from beyond
the arc -- as he scored 12 of Duke's first 18 points and was 6-for-9
from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
A 25-footer by Williams capped a 22-7 run that gave the Blue
Devils a 16-point lead 9½ minutes in. Minutes later Duke went up by
as many as 20 against a North Carolina team that shot 28 percent in
the opening half and turned it over 10 times.
"Jason started us off right away," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski
said. "That's one of the better performances I've seen. That's one
of those things you dream about in your final game. He scored more
points in this game than I did in the last half of my senior
year."
Jason Capel, who matched a career-high with 28 points, kept the
Tar Heels closer for longer than most expected. His 3-pointer with
14:29 left closed the score to 60-47, but Chris Duhon made a
3-pointer, then fed Mike Dunleavy after a steal for a fastbreak
dunk and the second rout of the season by Duke against the Tar
Heels was on.
Duke's 87-58 drubbing on Jan. 31 gave the Tar Heels their worse
loss in the Smith Center, and the defeat in Cameron handed North
Carolina its 11th ACC loss by double digits as the program's worst
regular season came to a bitter end.
North Carolina's poor ballhandling allowed Duke to take 72
shots. The Tar Heels got just 47 attempts after coughing it up 25
times.
"It would be like giving them the ball 25 times before the game
starts and then say, `Let's play,' " Doherty said. "Taking care of
the basketball is easier said than done because they are so quick
and their pressure on the ball really occupies your point guard.
You don't see the passing lanes as much."
The game, normally one of the most anticipated in college
basketball, didn't have much hype and it meant little to each team
other than pride. The two had already secured seeding in the
ACC tournament and Duke had seen its record five straight ACC
regular season titles snapped by Maryland.
Still, Krzyzewski and Doherty picked up technical fouls in the
first minutes for arguing calls. Both settled down in the second
half and were around to see the final buzzer as Duke won for the
ninth time in the last 10 meetings.
Three other technicals were call on players during some rough
play.
"His guys aren't stupid and I hope my guys aren't stupid
either," Doherty said. "We're not going to get into a fistfight
out there. It wasn't going to get out of hand."
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UNC vs. Duke