When Duke and UNC play, these former teammates will be on opposite sides of rivalry
Leaky Black committed to North Carolina as a sophomore and he was extremely invested in getting one of his teammates at Concord’s Cox Mill High School to follow.
UNC coach Hubert Davis, then an assistant, was the primary recruiter responsible for calling and texting Wendell Moore.
Black was unofficially a recruiter, too.
“He was on me about coming to Carolina, because they were obviously one of the heavier teams that recruited me early in the process,” Moore said. “He was on me a lot at that point. When I made the decision to come to Duke, ever since then there have kind of been jokes between us every time we play.”
The two former teammates will square off when Duke and Carolina renew their rivalry Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center. They may even find themselves matched up against one another.
Moore and Black are 2-2 in head-to-head meetings, although Moore has one-up on Black after making the game-winning putback in overtime to beat Carolina back in 2020.
But they won’t be the only former teammates on opposite sides of the rivalry matchup this season. Carolina sophomore guard R.J. Davis and Duke freshman forward A.J. Griffin both played their prep years for Archbishop Stepinac in White Plains, N.Y. Saturday will be the first time they’ve played against each other.
“We’re just happy for each other’s success,” R.J. Davis said. “For him to be at Duke, for me to be at North Carolina, where we’re from, that’s a big time accomplishment. So that’s something that we congratulate each other on.”
A different dynamic
Wayne Ellington, who currently plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, recalls when he and Gerald Henderson talked about possibly staying home to play for Villanova as teammates when they both starred at Episcopal Academy in Marion, Pa.
Ellington and Henderson were each recruited by Carolina and Duke. Ellington ended up in Chapel Hill, Henderson in Durham.
“It was weird at first that first Carolina-Duke game, it was intense,” Ellington told The News & Observer. “There’s obviously a lot of a lot of hype behind it. And then that being my first time playing against my former teammate, it was different for me. It was different, but it was fun. It was super competitive.”
Henderson now runs his own luxury real estate firm in Charlotte — Henderson Ventures — with his wife. Henderson said Ellington has made investments and deals with him, and they’re like brothers. But Ellington is quick to remind him of the Heels’ 5-1 record against his Blue Devil teams from 2006-09.
“We’re still best friends, man, and family,” Henderson told the N&O. “ But he always reminds me, always reminds me. We’re such competitive dudes and comedians, so we’re always cracking on each other and trying to one-up each other.”
‘A mutual respect’
Ellington served as a peacemaker when Henderson became a villain to Carolina fans. In the closing moments of the Heels’ 86-72 win during their freshmen season in 2006-07, Henderson committed a hard foul on Tyler Hansbrough that left him with a bloody nose.
Those who didn’t know Henderson took it as intentional, but Ellington knew otherwise. He was the first to call Henderson as Duke was on their bus ride back to Durham. And Ellington also served as a peacemaker who gave Henderson Hansbrough’s phone number so he could call and apologize.
“I was trying to defuse the situation the best I could, but it was intense man,” Ellington said. “It was an intense situation especially, obviously, within that rivalry. Nobody was was trying to hear it when I’d say it wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t on purpose. Everybody was pretty pissed off to say the least.”
Without Ellington’s presence, the “bad blood” may have continued, but it dissipated. (Henderson and Hansbrough teamed up to do a podcast together in 2017.)
“There’s a mutual respect there, especially since we’re doing the same thing,” Henderson said. “We know what it’s like being in college and under the lights and being part of this rivalry. There’s no real hate there, I mean, besides some of the fans that take it too serious. But it’s all love man.”
Impact players
Black, R.J. Davis, Griffin and Moore won’t all be happy after Saturday night’s matchup. But all four will have a say in the game’s outcome.
Black is averaging 9.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists during the Heels’ four game winning streak. He’s also gone 7-for-11 from 3-point range during that stretch.
Davis is third on the Heels in scoring averaging 13.9 points per game. He leads the team shooting 42.6% from 3-point range for those with more than 25 attempts.
Griffin has started the past seven games for the Blue Devils after slowly coming back from a knee injury. He’s averaging 9.0 points and 3.5 rebounds.
Moore emerged as a leader for Duke this season. He’s second on the team with 14.2 points per game and leads the Blue Devils with 4.5 assists.
Hubert Davis said the relationships are a lot different now than when he was a player, when grassroots basketball in the summer wasn’t as big as it is now.
“That’s the different part, the kids now they have relationships, they have friendships with so many different people from different parts of the country, different places,” Davis said. “And so whether you come to UNC-Duke or whomever those relationships continue to exist while they’re playing college, and I think that’s really neat.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 8:00 AM with the headline "When Duke and UNC play, these former teammates will be on opposite sides of rivalry."