Lopsided swan song for UNC seniors

By Bret Strelow

bstrelow@salisburypost.com

DURHAM — Fifth-year senior Marcus Ginyard sat alone at one edge of the visitors locker room in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Ginyard was barely audible even though he was surrounded by silence as he spoke.

The veteran was on hand for North Carolina victories in each of the team's previous four visits to Cameron, but Duke rolled to an 82-50 win over the Tar Heels on Saturday night.

"It's the first time that I've had to come into the locker room with a loss," Ginyard said. "Teams in the past found success here because we were tough enough. We came in and stuck it out through the times that weren't going our way. We made things go our way.

"Tonight, we didn't do that. They were the aggressors on everything. When it got tough, we allowed them to continue to put it on us."

Ginyard, who played in victories during each of his first three seasons at UNC, redshirted last season. Classmates such as Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green picked up one more win before departing for good.

The Tar Heels fell behind 16-6 in the first eight minutes Saturday and trailed by as many as 30 points in the first half.

Looking to finish on a high note despite the lopsided score, UNC's last possession even agitated coach Roy Williams. He called a set for senior walk-on James Gallagher, who hasn't scored all season, but the Tar Heels didn't execute the play properly.

"Seeing what the other side of the bridge feels like, it's definitely not a good feeling," senior forward Deon Thompson said. "It's something Carolina basketball's not used to feeling. I don't expect it to be this way for very long."

The loss locks UNC into the No. 10 seed for the upcoming ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels will face seventh-seeded Georgia Tech on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Duke, which finished in a first-place tie with Maryland, enters the tournament as the top seed thanks to its dominant performance.

"I said in the preseason — and I still believe it — that this is the best Duke team they've had in the seven years I've been here," Williams said. "Mike (Krzyzewski) knows them a heckuva lot better than I do, but to me, they don't have any holes."