DURHAM, N.C. - Late in No. 16 Duke’s 79-73 loss to No. 5 North Carolina on Wednesday, Josh McRoberts missed a shot and screamed a well-known expletive as he vented his frustration.

Keep in mind that was before Duke (18-6) officially dropped its third straight game to fall into a three-way tie for fifth place in the ACC at 5-5.

Duke’s DeMarcus Nelson said their three-game slide didn’t mean it's time for the Blue Devils to hit the panic button.

"It’s time to hit the get-on-the-right-track button," Nelson said. "It’s definitely a time when we have to look at reality and be real with what’s going on."

The reality is that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, making a change to spark the team, had benched McRoberts and Nelson, both team captains, in favor of David McClure and freshman Brian Zoubek to start the game.

Both Nelson and McRoberts said after the game that they were benched because they weren’t giving the Devils enough.

The reality is the Devils haven’t dropped three straight in the ACC since Duke started 0-4 in the conference in 1995-96.

The reality is that, with six ACC games remaining, the Devils play just two more games at home, against Georgia Tech and Maryland. They go to Maryland on Sunday, to Boston College on Feb. 14, to Clemson on Feb. 22 and to North Carolina on March 4.

The only team on that list that sits behind Duke in the ACC standings is Georgia Tech.

If it’s not time to push the panic button, that thing is still flashing, begging to be fondled.

"It hurts. It hurts a lot," Duke freshman Jon Scheyer said after scoring a game-high and career-high 26 in the loss. "But the thing is we showed some really good signs in the beginning. ... We know we have a couple of tough games coming up so I think we need to get back to work."

Scheyer is right because the Blue Devils are not playing poorly. For the third straight game, the Devils played long stretches of their kind of pressure defense and took the shots they wanted with the game on the line.

The Devils are just missing shots at the end of games, and they have been shots Duke wanted like Scheyer’s open looks at 3-pointers and driving layups by Greg Paulus and Nelson.

Krzyzewski said his players have never lacked effort. The only thing he said he could say to his charges now while they’re taking good shots is to "Fire the bullets."

"It’s better than not firing," Krzyzewski said. "Our kids responded great to two gut-wrenching losses. Now we have to respond and go up to Maryland and again play hard. That’s what we should do. ... If we don’t do that, then we’re not Duke."

Krzyzewski knew this team would needs lots of seasoning and patience to reach its potential. Among the scholarship players, the Devils had one junior, five sophomores and four freshmen.

But, being young is no excuse in the NCAA these days.

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North Carolina’s freshmen — Brandan Wright, Tywon Lawson and Wayne Ellington — have cracked the starting lineup and have added to the big engine that is the Heels’ fast-moving offense.

Duke’s freshmen are still figuring things out.

Scheyer has played as previously advertised. He’s been one of the team’s top three scorers all season shook off a bit of a slump with his performance against the Tar Heels.

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Henderson, who hasn’t always shown his physical skills, played well against North Carolina. He took open mid-range jumpers and played above the rim on both ends, something Duke has been waiting for him to do fulltime.

But forward Lance Thomas has limited his own time while getting into quick and frequent foul trouble. And Zoubek hasn’t been able to avoid turnovers over when the Devils dump the ball into him in the low post.

That’s something the Devils desperately want to do to exploit Zoubek’s 7-foot-1 size.

Still, 23 games into the season, this team is as good as Krzyzewski said it would be during the preseason.

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Krzyzewski warned that the Devils would lose games and that nothing would come easily. Krzyzewski also has been saying all season long that this team isn’t a Duke team of old.

To send that message to this Duke team, he even took down their name plates in the Duke locker room early last month and has yet to give them back.

That’s reality.

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