Williams and Coach K faced off for the ACC Title
UNC's victory is sweet redemption for last season's disappointing season. Reuters

With the ACC title up for grabs, the North Carolina Tar Heels came up big and defeated the Duke Blue Devils in Chapel Hill, 81-67.

Up by 13 points, guard Dexter Strickland slammed home the exclamation point with a little more than a minute remaining in a very satisfying win for the 13th-ranked North Carolina (24-6, 14-2) over fourth-ranked Duke (27-4, 13-3).

The Tar Heels shot a very impressive 52.4 percent, and were led by freshman Harrison Barnes who scored 18 points to go along with five rebounds.

Duke shot a poor 35.5 percent, but received another stellar performance from senior guard Nolan Smith, who dropped 30 points on nine-of-19 shooting.

Smith, who scored 34 points when the two teams played in Durham, loses his last ACC regular season game of his college career, and his last game against UNC.

Duke's chances of becoming a number-one seed in the NCAA tournament look dim with the loss.

North Carolina is now the first team in ACC history to win the season title outright after finishing below .500 in league play the year before.

Basketball