Duke's freshman sensation bookends a breakneck 42-second sequence of the second half with a pair of sublime plays to help the Blue Devils advance to Saturday's ACC championship game.
Zion Williamson had 31 points to lead all scorers as Duke ousted third-ranked North Carolina in the ACC tournament semifinals on Friday night in Charlotte. By Chuck Culpepper Chuck Culpepper Reporter who covers national college football, college basketball, tennis, golf and international sports.
The 42 seconds began at the 10:35 mark, when Williamson made a reverse left-handed dunk to give Duke a 59-56 lead long after it trailed 33-20 and Williamson started bailing it out of that. It was not Williamson’s most rule-the-world dunk of the night or of his one and probably only college season. It did not form the most memorable of his 31 points. But it did reveal a bit of his otherworldly dexterity for a 285-pound person, and it did wind up with the big fellow spilled tellingly on the floor.
Johnson jammed it, and the break had happened so fast it felt hard to process, and the number of dribbles in the entire break had been one, and the arena felt like basketball paradise.About 33 seconds more, and North Carolina tried a routine pass out on the perimeter. It did not allow for the fact that a 6-foot-8, 285-pound human with the quickness and hands of — of someone much smaller — would pluck away that pass, roar downcourt and throw in a monstrous dunk with 9:53 left.
Barrett then answered, “The one he had today where he took off outside the key on the fastbreak, I give that one a 10.”Krzyzewski then said, “Let’s not talk about rating dunks. Let’s talk about the game.”
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