North Carolina spoiled Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 5 when it beat up on the Blue Devils, 94-81. The performance in front of a crowd that included 96 of Krzyzewski’s former players moved the 75-year-old coach to tell fans afterward that the result was “unacceptable.” Krzyzewski will retire at the end of the season and that was his final game in front of the home fans.
Duke and North Carolina have met 257 times, with the Tar Heels leading the series, 142-115. Yet they have never met in the N.C.A.A. tournament.
With a place in Monday’s national championship game — as well as a piece of Krzyzewski’s legacy — on the line, the Blue Devils aren’t focused on revenge for the regular season loss.
“It’s just another game for us,” said the junior forward Wendell Moore Jr. “No matter who it was, they’re in the way of us getting to Monday. That’s how we’re looking at it.”
Sophomore center Mark Williams added, “I think regardless of who we play on Saturday, we have the same mind-set. Obviously it’s a national semifinal game. You want to go out there play your best basketball, play hard, do whatever it takes to win, no matter if it’s North Carolina or whoever it may be.”
Krzyzewski wasn’t interested in talk of storybook endings.
“I didn’t do this season to have a storybook,” he said Thursday. “I did it because I wanted to coach one more year and I wanted to have a succession plan for our program.”
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