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The losing streak of Duke versus Carolina ended tonight, 89-78. Riding on threes, sticky defense, and a myriad of blocked shots, not even a home court advantage for the formerly #1 Tar Heels could give an inch to a Blue Devil team that could hardly miss beyond the arc.

With Ty Lawson out, Carolina was held to a one-dimension game consisting of Tyler Hansborough, Tyler Hansborough and Tyler Hansborough. However, Duke showed up with a group of freshmen that controlled the ball on both ends of the court. The freshmen- Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson, Nolan Smith and Lance Thomas- combined for 44 points, 40% from three-point land, six blocks and 21 rebounds against a Carolina team with a good big man but a depleted back court that was missing an injured star.

Singler was the most impressive of the night, often playing Hansborough hard and leaving him flat-footed on defense as Singler hit three treys and grabbed 10 boards. Hansborough put up big numbers tonight (28 points, 18 boards), but he seemed to be the only consistent player for the Tar Heels.

The Heels led the game for half of the opening period, but once they took over the lead 21-18 they never gave it up. The spread at one point was 11. The Tar Heels would not go down without a fight, as it usually is when these two teams match up. They closed within three at the end of the first half.

And Duke looked like Duke of last year in the final minutes of the game by giving up the ball at totally inopportune moments. With less than two minutes left in the game, Carolina pulled to within seven points. After an inbound to Greg Paulus he was immediately swarmed and instead of calling a time out he attempted to lob the ball over to Kyle Singler underneath the Carolina basket. However, it was intercepted and kicked out to a Tar Heel who hit one of the few threes for the Tar Heels in the game, bringing it to five.

But instead of losing their composure like last year, the Blue Devils came back with a free throw, an inbound steal by Singler and another basket, giving them a ten-point spread with 12 seconds left.

So it seems that a Blue Devil team with no big man but plenty of shooters and from-the-gut players managed to outplay a better team on paper. Coach K likes the build of his team despite their shortcomings.

"They're pretty special right now," Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We know who we are. We're a very unconventional team. We're not a strong physical team, but we are strong team emotionally, a real together group.