A 25-7 record and a CAA championship in both the regular season and tournament portions of 2016 were enough to earn UNC Wilmington its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2006, but it would not be enough for the Seahawks to power past a highly skilled Duke team. In the end, the Blue Devils were too big for UNCW to topple. The Seahawks fell, 93-85.

Duke struggled out of the gate. This surprised some, but others—namely those familiar with how the Seahawks play basketball, including the large number of fans who made their way to Providence, RI—knew all along that UNCW had a fair shot at becoming the tournament’s first Cinderella team.

The Seahawks crashed the boards and continued to do so all night, getting many second chance opportunities. A 13-12 offensive rebounding advantage kept them within striking distance of the Blue Devils, who struggled to find their footing against a team known for playing small and using its guards to score a majority of its points.

After taking a 43-40 halftime lead, the Seahawks were playing their brand of basketball and sticking to what they knew was a blueprint to defeat a shorthanded opponent: defend the three (Duke was 3-10) and shoot well (51.5% in the first half).

“I know a lot of people are surprised, but being up three and possibly being up six at halftime, we expected it,” said UNCW head coach Kevin Keatts. “We entered this game, and we obviously have a lot of respect for Coach K and the program that he’s built, but our guys expected to win the game.”

Late in the first half, Marshall Plumlee, a 7’1” center in his final year with the Blue Devils, removed the mask he had been wearing to protect a broken nose sustained just a few weeks prior.

The removal of the mask was a symbolic action—one that resonated with the entire team. Duke was not playing around any longer, and neither was Plumlee. It came firing out of the locker room, and Plumlee scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.

A large majority of those baskets came from thunderous dunks thrown over the top of the UNCW defense. A 14-0 run early in the second half put Duke ahead by 10, giving it its first double-digit lead of the night.

“The way we play, with our traps and stuff, sometimes you’re going to give that up,” said UNCW senior guard, Craig Ponder. “So, that happens. We expect it to happen, so it’s not something that’s really discouraging.”

A major point of emphasis on UNCW’s inability to keep its lead on Thursday came from a majority of its low-post players going to the bench with foul trouble. A team that averaged 26 fouls per game during the regular season and ranked 350 of 351 NCAA teams in defensive foul efficiency was not able to correct its problems against one of the nation’s most aggressive units.

After all was said and done, the Seahawks accumulated 33 team fouls and three players had fouled out. C.J. Gettys, Devontae Cacok and Ponder all were disqualified after tallying five fouls each, the former two having anchored them all season with their size and strength.

Without Gettys and Cacok, UNCW was forced to rotate Dylan Sherwood to the center position. Sherwood, who stands at 6’7” and possesses limited jumping ability, had not played a single minute at center at any point in the year. His primary use was at the wing position, a place where he used his size to capitalize on three-point opportunities around the perimeter.

“It hurts any time you’ve got a rotation and you’ve been used to playing some guys in different spots in the game, but when they get into foul trouble it takes your routine and rhythm out a little bit,” said Keatts. “I thought Duke did a great job at being aggressive; they played an aggressive style of basketball. It hurt us a little bit, because we played some guys in spots we hadn’t had to all year.”

At an even larger size disadvantage than they already were, the Seahawks had no answer for the challenges brought upon them in the second half by Plumlee. Duke standouts Grayson Allen and Brandon Ingram also poured it on later in the game, totaling 23 and 20 points, respectively.

UNCW’s junior guard, Denzel Ingram, ended Duke’s run with one of his signature three-pointers to cut the deficit to 56-49 with 13:55 remaining in the game. Matt Jones would immediately answer with a three of his own to extend Duke’s lead back at 10, its largest.

The remainder of the game would follow the same pattern. UNCW would inch forward only to have the Blue Devils respond and scoot away. For a little while, the Seahawks appeared to regain the swagger that carried them through the first half. Again, each time they scored, they were answered.

Chris Flemmings, named the CAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player a week prior, was given the tall task of defending Brandon Ingram. Ingram, who is expected to be one of the top picks in the 2016 NBA Draft, took advantage of the stark difference in height between the two and easily made his way to the basket multiple times throughout the game.

“He’s definitely a great player,” said Flemmings. “I tried to take away his tendencies and he was able to counter.”

Flemmings scored many tough baskets of his own. The junior transfer from Barton College ended his season with 18 points, two rebounds, two steals and a block on 7/16 shooting. Ponder, undoubtedly UNCW’s most prominent leader, scored 22 points, four rebounds and four assists in his final game in a Seahawk uniform.

The Blue Devils refused to allow UNCW to crawl any closer than five points in those final few minutes. Five points—the smallest deficit the Seahawks faced after Duke’s big run—was what separated UNCW from Duke after Ingram channeled his inner Stephen Curry and nailed a three-pointer from nearly 30 feet away.

On the Seahawks’ final possession, there were multiple attempts to cut the lead down to two. Missed three-pointers were rebounded and attempted to be put back in, but Duke was able to corral the ball and hold for a win.

“We’re big time competitors and we all hate to lose, but the effort these guys have given me has been unbelievable,” said Keatts. “We walked into the locker room at the end of the game and I knew that the program was headed in the right direction because no one wanted a moral victory; those guys were upset because we lost the game.”