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DURHAM – Cormac Ryan was diving on the floor, slapping the floor, hearing profanities from the Cameron Crazies and hurling profanities back toward them.
Ryan waved goodbye to Duke fans and watched as water and water bottles were flung toward him and the Tar Heels on Coach K Court.
To cap a memorable Saturday night full of mind-boggling moments, by the time the UNC basketball team got back to Chapel Hill, according to a video posted on X (formerly Twitter), Ryan was walking on top of the team bus showing off the Tar Heels’ latest ACC regular-season championship trophy to fans.
“Listen, it’s not personal, that’s just who I am,” Ryan said. “I’m a fiery guy. That’s what you come here to do, to play in front of these fans and these environments and just feed off that.”
In his first game at Duke as a UNC basketball player and his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Ryan welcomed the fire and joined a list of legends that includes Lennie Rosenbluth, Michael Jordan and his current head coach Hubert Davis.
In the seventh-ranked Tar Heels’ 84-79 win against the ninth-ranked Blue Devils, Ryan scored a career-high 31 points, becoming the seventh UNC player to drop 30 at Cameron.
While Ryan enjoyed a performance against Duke (24-7, 15-5 ACC) that will forever connect him to some of the biggest names in program history, it isn’t what he wants to be remembered for most.
“Honestly, I want to be remembered for 17-3 in the league. I want to be remembered for taking not just a share, but the whole thing,” Ryan said, referencing UNC’s record 17th ACC win this season.
“We knew how special this group was, and that’s really what I want to be remembered about this night. We’re walking out of here with the ‘W’ and we’re walking out of here with the whole damn regular-season title.”
UNC basketball’s toughness shows with ACC title
Following a 10-game winning streak that gave way to losses in three of its next five games, UNC closed the regular season with six victories in a row to clinch the top seed in next week’s ACC Tournament.
HOW UNC WON ACC TITLE:Cormac Ryan leads UNC basketball past Duke, Tar Heels win outright ACC championship
ALL-TIME TAR HEEL:How UNC basketball’s Armando Bacot grew after freshman year
“I don’t know what word to be able to explain the joy of having a front-row seat to see these kids experience this and be successful,” Hubert Davis said.
“It’s 100% why I do this job. … They have worked so hard. From the start, this team has had a burning desire to be a team. They just do everything together.”
UNC out-rebounded an opponent for the 20th game in a row, seemingly snagging every loose ball along the way, and got it done at Duke with quiet scoring nights from Armando Bacot and RJ Davis. The last time the Tar Heels won a game when neither Bacot nor Davis reached double figures was Hubert Davis’ first game as head coach.
“We’re just a tough group,” RJ Davis said. “We don’t back down from anyone and we like our backs against the wall. That’s the type of group we are, that’s the type of group we’ve been all year.”
“I feel like we’re one of those teams, we all have a chip on our shoulder and we all rise to the occasion,” Ingram said.
“If it’s a big game, we’re all ready to go. We weren’t scared to come into Duke. These are the games we look forward to and this is the reason we came to UNC.”
It was on full display from UNC’s fast start to the moment the Tar Heels waved at the Cameron Crazies after the final buzzer.
Now, it’s on to the next goal for Ryan, Ingram, Bacot and the rest of the Heels.
“All year our goals were to win the ACC regular-season championship, win the (ACC) tournament and then win the national tournament, too,” Bacot said.
“We’re just knocking off goals, but we want to be humble about everything and just know what’s at stake.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached atrbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.
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