CHARLOTTE — For the third time this season, Duke and North Carolina are battling for their respective shades of blue. This time, in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils are out to a commanding 45-24 lead:

Slim filling in

There are only so many ways to describe Cooper Flagg’s impact to Duke; he leads the Blue Devils in every major statistical category, won ACC Player of the Year and is a frontrunner for National Player of the Year. Without his Diaper Dandy — and also missing defensive stalwart Maliq Brown because of injury — head coach Jon Scheyer opted to start fellow freshman Isaiah Evans. The Fayetteville, N.C., native felt at home in the Spectrum Center in the Blue Devils’ opening game against Georgia Tech, and looked just as confident to start Friday. As soon as he caught the ball for the first time, Evans rose over sophomore Elliot Cadeau and was fouled on his 3-point attempt. 

As the game quickly turned physical, Evans came out for large stretches in favor of sophomore Caleb Foster. No. 1, who started the season in the starting lineup, had yet another big half against the Tar Heels, finishing with six points and two steals.

Rivalry fireworks

Scheyer noticed freshman Khaman Maluach’s early apprehension — the 7-foot-2 big man gave up a few early offensive rebounds and easy buckets — and subbed in freshman Patrick Ngongba II for Maluach as the first player off the bench. Ngongba found a cutting Tyrese Proctor for an easy layup on offense, but got beat on the other end for an open dunk by Jalen Washington.

But Ngongba truly arrived to the Tobacco Road Rivalry a few minutes later. Washington was called for a dead ball technical after hitting Ngongba in the face while trying to get open at the top of the key. Seconds later, Ngongba hit Washington back on a very similar play, but review deemed that the play was incidental. Plenty of fans from both sides were in attendance, and it was hard to tell whether there were louder cheers or boos as the half wore on.

Pounding the paint

In a bad case of deja vu for the Blue Devils, the rim had a lid on it from behind the arc. Just as in the first half against the Yellow Jackets, they missed their first four shots from deep. North Carolina had similar struggles — shooting just 1-for-10 in the half — so both teams looked to work the ball inside.

For the Tar Heels, it was the handles of Cadeau and the experience in the frontcourt that created layups and dunks. On the other side, Duke used its positional size in its guard room to attack the basket and get to the line. The No. 1 seed held a 15 to six advantage in free throws attempted in the first half, and shots from the charity stripe accounted for 11 of the Blue Devils’ first-half points. It also did not help North Carolina that Cadeau picked up his third personal foul with 3:56 remaining in the half.

Back-and-forth affair swings for Duke

In their third crack at the top-ranked Blue Devils, the Tar Heels looked as confident as ever in pulling off an upset. Every big Duke play, be it a Knueppel triple, Foster steal or Sion James bucket, was met with an equally impressive North Carolina moment. Center Ven-Allen Lubin continued to bully Maluach on the block and rack up boards, and Seth Trimble knifed his way through the defense for a left-handed and-one.

Still, by the end of the half the Tar Heels were trading too many twos for threes to keep pace, and the Blue Devils had an eight-point cushion heading into the final media timeout. From there, Duke continued to pair stops with buckets and ballooned the lead all the way to 21. Maluach hung in the air long enough to get fouled hard and still make a layup, and snared an offensive board for a baby hook a few plays later. Then, the rookie smacked the ball off the backboard for a block, finishing the half significantly stronger than he started it.

Player of the half: Patrick Ngongba II

Ngongba was everywhere on both ends for the Blue Devils, hauling in physical rebounds and making winning plays on offense. In a crucial series, the Manassas, Va., native caught the ball off a pick-and-roll and found an open Knueppel for his third three of the half. That shot put Duke up 11, its first double-digit lead of the game, and brought a friendly crowd to its feet. They were still standing when Ngongba came up with a smothering block of Washington. While the big man was called for a travel after falling to the ground with the ball, he drove right to the hoop for a left-handed score moments later.

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Dom Fenoglio | Sports Managing Editor

Dom Fenoglio is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle’s 120th volume.