Duke basketball torments UNC with 'Chinese spy balloon' video

Although official reports claim a U.S. fighter jet took down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast on Saturday, Duke basketball's oh-so-creative social media team suggested freshman center Dereck Lively II deserves the credit.

The following edited video, which the program posted to Twitter and Facebook on Sunday night, hilariously celebrates Lively's breakout performance in helping the Blue Devils secure a 63-57 revenge win over their archrival UNC Tar Heels in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday night:

D LIVE TOOK DOWN THE CHINESE SPY BALLOON!!!! 😅❌🎈🕵️‍♂️ @DereckLively pic.twitter.com/32MlSTUfrH
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 6, 2023

That Lively block, one of his eight on the night, came against Caleb Love, the hero from UNC's 2022 Final Four win over Duke that ended Mike Krzyzewski's career. It further electrified the Cameron Crazies and set the tone for the final four minutes of action, in which the Tar Heels managed only two points.

However, that block did not make the top five plays from the game that the program tweeted on Sunday morning. Still, Dereck Lively II was prevalent on the list, including another one of the 7-foot-1 former five-star recruit's vicious swats at the rim (No. 4) and his emphatic putback dunk (No. 2) to give Duke a 59-57 lead with 1:30 to play.

Clutch buckets, big plays #DukeMBBTop5 pic.twitter.com/0stLd4EDz4
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 5, 2023

In addition to his eight blocks, setting an all-time Duke basketball record against the Tar Heels, Lively grabbed 14 rebounds (a career-high) while tallying four points and two assists in his 34 minutes on the floor (another career-high).

Next up for Lively and the unranked Blue Devils (17-6, 8-4 ACC) is a road bout against the No. 19 Miami Hurricanes (19-5, 9-4 ACC) at 7 p.m. ET Monday.

Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country for daily Duke basketball content.