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CHAPEL HILL — For almost 30 minutes, struggling North Carolina was a match for the ACC's best team.

But college games are still 40 minutes long. And the Tar Heels (13-11 overall, 2-7 ACC) haven't played well for 40 minutes in a long, long time.

Jon Scheyer shot 5-for-9 from 3-point range and scored 24 points to lead No. 8 Duke to a 64-54 victory as North Carolina wilted down the stretch Wednesday night at the Smith Center.

Kyle Singler shot 4-for-5 behind the arc, scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Duke (20-4, 8-2). Nolan Smith chipped in 10.

"It's hard to be a great team with one great scorer, and sometimes it's even hard with two great scorers," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "When you've got three great scorers, you don't need those other guys to look for shots. Those guys go to the backboards for them, they get offensive rebounds, do a great job screening and helping those guys get open. ... When you've got three great scorers, those other guys should be complementary players."

Therein lies the problem: This Carolina team has no great scorers.

Take a look at who took the most shots for the Tar Heels against Duke. Point guard Larry Drew II shot 4-for-15 and scored 11 points. Senior guard Marcus Ginyard shot 3-for-10 and scored seven.

Those two combined to shoot 2-for-12 from 3-point range.

"(Duke is) good defensively, and we haven't shot it well," Williams said. "We had the ball inside a couple of times and didn't finish it. We turned it over a little bit when we did get it inside. It's been a struggle for us offensively. Guys, we've been trying to run the fast-break. We've scored 75, 70 and 71 the last three games and only 54 tonight."

The strength of this Carolina team was supposed to be inside. Ed Davis, the easy-going 6-foot-10 sophomore, is still being held up as an NBA draft pick. And yet he shot just 2-for-4 and finished with four points and five rebounds against a variety of Duke defenders.

"They do a good job of making it tough on Ed," Williams said. "They've got Zoubek. They've got Thomas. They've got Mason and Miles (Plumlee). They keep running those guys in there. I said in the preseason I thought one of the things that would be key for us would be our depth in the front court. Well, two of the four I was counting on are sitting over there with me in street clothes. We had a tough time matching bodies with them."

True, 7-footer Tyler Zeller and 6-10 freshman Travis Wear wore black suits instead of white uniforms. But the Tar Heels have other big guys who are playing — and struggling.

Senior Deon Thompson scored just 10 points, most on short jumpers. Highly touted freshman John Henson shot 2-for-8, scored six points and blocked four shots.

Bottom line: Nine games into the ACC season, North Carolina's leading scorer and rebounder in league play is 6-6 guard/forward Will Graves of Greensboro. The former Dudley star scored 13 points and grabbed eight more rebounds against Duke.

Most of that came in the first 30 minutes, when North Carolina matched Duke and built a modest four-point lead.

It went away down the stretch, and now the Heels have lost four in a row and seven of their last eight.

What's left? Seven league games and the ACC tournament, meager time to save a shattered season.

"We've got to play," Williams said. "You can be 2-7 or 70-2, we've got to freakin' practice when we practice, and when we've got a game we've got to play. Are they going to start feeling sorry for themselves? I don't think they will. It doesn't make any difference: You've got to be ready to practice and ready to play."

They played hard and intense and well on Wednesday. For 30 of 40 minutes.

Duke's next game is Saturday against Maryland in Durham (1 p.m., WFMY-2). UNC hosts N.C. State on Saturday (4 p.m. ESPN)

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

DUKE (20-4) — Singler 7-18 1-2 19, Thomas 0-6 2-2 2, Mi.Plumlee 1-5 0-0 2, Scheyer 7-20 5-8 24, Smith 4-14 2-4 10, Zoubek 0-1 0-0 0, Ma.Plumlee 3-4 1-2 7, Dawkins 0-1 0-0 0, Kelly 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-69 11-18 64.

NORTH CAROLINA (13-11) — Graves 5-9 0-0 13, Thompson 3-7 4-4 10, Davis 2-4 0-3 4, Ginyard 3-10 0-1 7, Drew II 4-15 2-3 11, Strickland 1-4 1-2 3, Henson 2-8 2-3 6, D.Wear 0-1 0-0 0, McDonald 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 9-16 54.

Halftime—Duke 28-27.
3-point goals—Duke 9-18 (Scheyer 5-9, Singler 4-5, Dawkins 0-1, Smith 0-3), North Carolina 5-19 (Graves 3-5, Ginyard 1-5, Drew II 1-8, Henson 0-1).
Fouled out—None.
Rebounds—Duke 51 (Ma.Plumlee, Singler 9), North Carolina 42 (Ginyard, Graves 8).
Assists—Duke 12 (Scheyer 4), North Carolina 8 (Drew II 4).
Total fouls—Duke 16, North Carolina 16.
A—21,750.