Sky Is the Limit for Marvin Bagley III and Duke Following Rivalry Win over UNC

Marvin Bagley III led all players with 21 points and 15 rebounds, sparking a huge second-half run for the No. 5 Duke Blue Devils in a 74-64 comeback win over the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday.

Early on, Duke could not buy a bucket. Through the first 25 minutes, the Blue Devils were an uncharacteristic 1-of-12 from three-point range and 4-of-14 from the free-throw line, trailing at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Grayson Allen's senior night, 42-29. With North Carolina starting to find the holes in the zone, it looked like Duke was destined to enter the ACC tournament on a two-game losing streak.

Soon after, a few freshmen took over.

Trevon Duval—a 27.4 percent three-point shooter, of all people—drilled the triple that finally removed the lid from Duke's basket. It started a run of eight made threes in the span of 11 attempts, including three from Gary Trent Jr. and one each by Wendell Carter Jr. and Bagley.

And while those perimeter shots were falling, Bagley turned the paint into his personal playground.

The potential No. overall 1 pick in this year's NBA draft struggled with foul trouble in the first half, but he exploded for 18 points and 11 rebounds after the intermission. Those numbers don't do justice to the way he dominated.

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

With 10:41 remaining, Bagley canned a wide-open three-pointer from the top of the key. That isn't his strength, though. He'd made just 17 shots from beyond the perimeter prior to this game. But he's a capable enough shooter that it was plain unforgivable for the Tar Heels to leave him that open.

He got three points and two rebounds on Duke's ensuing possession, getting back his own miss twice before finishing through contact for an and-1.

When everyone raved about Andrew Wiggins a few years ago while he was at Kansas, one of the first things you heard about was his second leap. The guy was like a pogo stick, coming down with a rebound, going right back up and outjumping everyone with both hops. That's exactly what Bagley did on his first, second and third leap.

Two possessions later, he did it again but even more emphatically.

Bagley tracked down an offensive rebound from an Allen three-point attempt, corralling it in the corner. He drove baseline and tried an off-balance layup that didn't even hit the rim. Instead, it turned into a self-pass off the backboard, as he touched the ground for about a nanosecond before springing back up for a two-handed slam.

The Athletic's Sam Vecenie chimed in on Twitter regarding the freshman: 

It was a sequence of just over two minutes that showcased Bagley's out-of-this-world talent and served as a reminder that Duke is still one of the top candidates to win the national championship.

Remember when people had the audacity to suggest Duke might be better off without Bagley because it won all four games he missed with a knee sprain?

After what he just did to North Carolina, that might be cemented as the dumbest hot take of the 2017-18 season.

With Bagley doing whatever he damn well pleased, the Blue Devils erased a 13-point deficit in a New York minute. Technically, the 23-8 run took six minutes and 41 seconds, but it felt like it happened in the blink of an eye.

Lance King/Getty Images

Ridiculous runs like that seem to happen all the time in this series, but this felt like more than just Tobacco Road magic.

No, this was a reminder that this is still the same Duke team that rallied from second-half deficits so many times earlier in the season. Michigan State, Texas, Florida, Indiana, Florida State and Miami all thought they had the Blue Devils right where they wanted them, only for Duke to grind them to a pulp over the final 10 minutes.

That isn't to say this team is invincible. That would be a ludicrous statement regarding a squad that suffered losses to the likes of Boston College and St. John's.

But when Duke is playing at its peak—that goes for Bagley in particular—it's like watching 2014-15 Kentucky all over again. You just know a big run is coming, and you have to hope you did enough in the first 32 minutes to withstand it.

At any rate, the Blue Devils' A-game is better than that of any other team in the country. As long as it keeps showing up in March, Duke could dance its way to Mike Krzyzewski's sixth national championship.

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @kerrancejames.