Seth Trimble's last-second 3-pointer caps UNC's largest comeback win vs. Duke in past 25 years, inspiring 2 court storms

With the game tied and less than a minute to go Saturday night in the Dean Smith Center, Duke forward Cameron Boozer knocked the ball loose from a driving Seth Trimble.

Boozer didn’t take advantage, missing a layup on the other end.

And Trimble, a senior North Carolina captain who broke a bone in his left forearm during a weight room accident earlier this season, got one more chance for a defining moment in a historic regional matchup that had been split evenly over its past 120 iterations.

The guard swished a go-ahead, last-second 3-pointer that caused bedlam.

Fans stormed the court, only to find out there were actually 0.4 seconds remaining in the game.

All of them had to return to their seats, and equipment staff anxiously cleared the hardwood of debris — except the Blue Devils’ ensuing inbound heave didn’t change the 71-68 outcome, the largest comeback win for UNC over Duke in the last 25 years.

The No. 14 Tar Heels (19-4, 7-3 ACC) trailed by as many as 13 points, and their faithful celebrated the come-from-behind victory again after the buzzer sounded a second time.

Jon Scheyer said afterward that Duke staff members were punched in the face during the game-ending frenzy.

A motivated Caleb Wilson, who revealed to Andscape in the lead-up to the rivalry showdown that Duke stopped talking to him in the highly touted forward’s recruitment, logged 17 of UNC’s 29 first-half points and finished with 23. Boozer, another top-five NBA Draft prospect, totaled 24 points and 11 rebounds.

Trimble, the hero who gave the Tar Heels their first lead of the night with less than a second left, collected 16 points.

No. 4 Duke (21-2, 10-1) was in the driver’s seat for most of the game.

It sliced through UNC’s defense with well-timed cuts in the opening minutes. One of those helped fuel a 10-0 Blue Devils run that staked them to an 18-5 lead, as center Patrick Ngongba II whipped a pass to wing Dame Sarr, who then dunked.

Wilson didn’t get many touches early, and he didn’t score until the 13:18 mark in the first half. But his drought-ending turnaround jumper set up a pretty up-and-under that gave the Tar Heels a shot in the arm.

UNC doubled Boozer early and often. His first points, and shot, came on a tip-in close to 8:30 into the game.

After Wilson scored eight straight points for the Tar Heels, wing Jonathan Powell drilled a 3-pointer to pull his team back within six points of the Blue Devils, making it a 22-16 game.

Wilson tacked on another UNC triple, and, following two quick fouls, Boozer took a seat on the bench with 9:33 left before intermission and the Tar Heels building what would be a 9-0 surge.

He sat for less than two minutes, though, and Duke held onto its lead down the stretch of the first half, even restoring a double-digit advantage, first with a 3 from Boozer and then with another from his twin brother, Cayden Boozer.

Having shot a mere 9 of 27, or 33%, from the floor and accounting for just 11 of the game’s 33 rebounds across the first 20 minutes of action, UNC found itself down 41-29 at the break. Center Henri Veesaar came in averaging 16.8 points and nine rebounds per game yet went scoreless with two rebounds in the first half.

To start the second half, Wilson picked up where he left off, knocking down a tough jumper over Cameron Boozer, whom Wilson notably swatted for a highlight-reel block in the first half.

Then Wilson used a jab step to set the stage for a left-handed layup. While his clinic continued, so did Duke’s lead, as Caleb Foster and, later, Sarr poured in 3-pointers.

But Veesaar’s first points, followed by Jarin Stevenson’s second 3-pointer of the second half, decreased the Tar Heels’ deficit to five. That sequence jumpstarted a flurry of offense on both ends.

UNC and Duke traded buckets up until the half’s second media timeout, with the Tar Heels’ effort level noticeably higher than it was at the beginning of the game.

The scoring slowed in the subsequent minutes. Isaiah Evans blocked Wilson, and Boozer netted his second triple, putting the Blue Devils up 62-53.

UNC didn’t go away. Derek Dixon sank a 3 that ignited the arena.

He made one more less than four minutes later, and Veesaar followed to tie the game at 68.

Veesaar bounced back from a quiet first half with 13 second-half points and the defense that shut down Boozer on his potential game-winning drive.

Then Trimble etched his name in UNC lore.

Seth Trimble’s last-second 3-pointer caps UNC’s largest comeback win vs. Duke in past 25 years, inspiring 2 court storms

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