Garrison Brooks on "Punking Duke": We're Just Going to Be Ourselves

North Carolina should have an advantage inside when the Tar Heels meet Duke on Saturday. Senior Garrison Brooks is one of the most experienced players on the floor and will be leading the Tar Heels’ post attack.

He’s been in plenty of Duke-Carolina games and has memories of the games, both watching as a child and participating in it.

“The Danny Green dunk was one of the bigger moments,” he said, “something I remember as a little kid, seeing that. For a moment I was in myself, we met President (Barack) Obama my sophomore year. That was great, man, a surreal moment. It was just pretty much like what you expect, when you see everybody there, you know everybody’s watching. When he came in our locker room, you know everybody’s eyes were locked in for the game.”

This year, there won’t be many eyes in the building, since fans won’t be allowed in.

“Of course it’s disappointing,” Brooks said. “It’s the biggest rivalry in all of sports, something you look forward to. I was talking to Kerwin Walton earlier this week. It’s one of those games you look forward to when you sign with North Carolina—the atmosphere, the build-up for that game is great.”

Duke guard DJ Steward said a day earlier that the Blue Devils weren’t going to let Carolina punk them.

“We’re pretty much going to do the same thing every time,” Brooks said. “Come in, try to get the ball inside, dominate the boards. That’s pretty much it. I’m not going to say we’re going to try to punk them, but we’re going to be ourselves and be as tough as we can.”