March 7, 2016

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Waiting for Selection Monday

Check-in on student demands

Duke women’s basketball is unsure of its postseason fate after another loss to Notre Dame | Sports Page 7

Many first-semester requests have yet to be publicly addressed by administrators | Page 2

The Chronicle T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y

MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2016

WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 88

‘WE COULDN’T REBOUND’

Tar Heels dominate Duke 64-29 on the glass to claim ACC crown

Jefferson ruled out for year Brian Pollack The Chronicle

Carolyn Chang | The Chronicle Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks combined for 30 points and 35 rebounds to lead North Carolina to its first win at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 2012.

Ryan Hoerger The Chronicle The Tar Heels grabbed everything Saturday night. They grabbed the ACC regular-season title outright. They grabbed their first win in Durham since 2012. They grabbed back bragging rights in the Tobacco Road rivalry after four straight losses. And they did it by grabbing 64 rebounds. “I knew that they would get their fair share [of rebounds]—I didn’t know they were going to beat us by the margin that they beat us,” junior Matt Jones said. “That in itself is surprising.” Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks combined for 30 points and 35 rebounds as No. 8 North Carolina bruised its way past No. 17 Duke 76-72 Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium, spoiling Senior Night for Marshall Plumlee. The Tar Heels scored 42 of their 76 points—20 of them off of second, third and fourth chances from 27 offensive rebounds—in the paint and five players finished in double-figures. Grayson Allen scored 29 points—

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including five in the final minute—and Luke Kennard hit a corner triple with less than 10 seconds left to pull within two, but three Tar Heels went a perfect 8-of-8 at the charity stripe in the last 25 seconds to ward off another late Blue Devil comeback. Duke trailed 68-59 with 3:22 left, but cut it to a single-possession game three times in the last 20 seconds. North Carolina senior Marcus Paige shot just 3-of-10 from the floor—including 1-of8 from downtown—but sunk four of those critical free throws, the final two pushing the Tar Heel lead back to four and denying the Blue Devils a chance to tie with a prayer at the buzzer. “If I had to pick anybody in the country to step to the line in that situation, I wanted Marcus Paige over anybody else,” North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said. “He was pretty doggone good.” Just as in the first meeting Feb. 17 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (25-6, 14-4 in the ACC) dominated the glass, with Meeks teaming up with Johnson to corral nearly every contested rebound. The Tar Heel starting frontcourt pulled down 16 rebounds in the first half and poured in 18

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points as Williams’ squad outrebounded the Blue Devils 30-10. “They were getting three or four shots a possession down there just because we couldn’t rebound,” Allen said. “You’re not going to win a ballgame like that.” That discrepancy only got wider in the second half, with North Carolina almost finishing with more offensive rebounds than Duke’s total 29 boards. On a few possessions, the Tar Heels got as many as six looks at the basket, coming up empty but simply snatching the ball back and rising again from point-blank range. The Blue Devils (22-9, 11-7) switched to a 2-3 zone once freshman Brandon Ingram left with two fouls midway through the first half, and stuck with it exclusively after halftime. The switch worked initially—Duke shaved eight points off the Tar Heel lead after Ingram sat down—but continued to cause problems as the Blue Devils tried to keep Johnson and Meeks off the glass. “We didn’t do a bad job of [playing zone] except for rebounding,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We didn’t finish the See M. BASKETBALL on Page 8

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Before Saturday’s game even tipped off, Duke officially announced what many had suspected with growing certainty— Amile Jefferson will not return to the court this season. The senior forward fractured his right foot in practice Dec. 12, and the team then stated that he would be out indefinitely. Jefferson was initially put on crutches to take all the pressure off his foot, and later progressed to a walking boot that he has been wearing on the sidelines for most of conference play. As he eschewed crutches in favor of the boot, the Philadelphia native gradually tried to test his mobility on the court, but to no avail. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said that his lateral movement was satisfactory, but actions that required pushing off the foot— particularly accelerating straight and jumping—were still causing Jefferson pain, and a realistic timetable for his return was never provided. With the book now closed on a potential postseason return, the team announced it will apply for a medical hardship waiver that would allow Jefferson to play again next season. Krzyzewski was optimistic that it would be granted, given that he has played in only nine of the Blue Devils’ 31 games— well below the 30 percent threshold that a redshirt requires. See JEFFERSON on Page 8

Carolyn Chang | The Chronicle Duke will apply for a medical hardship waiver that would allow Amile Jefferson to return next season.

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