For the 256th time overall and the 96th meeting in the Coach K era, No. 9 Duke and North Carolina square off in the Battle of the Blues on Saturday night at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill.
Carolina leads the overall series 141-114, but Duke is 49-46 vs. UNC under Mike Krzyzewski. The last 100 meetings are split 50-50. The Tar Heels won both games against the Blue Devils last season, winning 91-87 at Cameron Indoor Stadium and 91-73 in Chapel Hill.
The Blue Devils, in sole possession of first place in the ACC, have won four straight games and six of their last seven, while the Tar Heels have won four straight, are 12-0 at home and sit a half game back of Duke in a three-way tie for second with Notre Dame and Miami.
About Duke
- Six-time ACC Freshman of the Week, Paolo Banchero is averaging a double-double over Duke’s last six games with 17.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and a .506 field goal percentage in that span.
- Banchero, the ACC’s lone representative on the late-season watch list for the Wooden Award, has nine 20-point efforts this season – seven coming against power conference opponents – six in ACC play – in addition to 21 points vs. Gonzaga. He leads all scorers in ACC play at 19.1 and is second in ACC play in rebounds (9.4).
- Sophomore Mark Williams, a finalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, leads the ACC and is 11th nationally in blocks (3.2). Williams is Duke’s second leading scorer and rebounder over the last five games with 13.0 points and 9.0 boards.
- Freshman AJ Griffin set a Duke freshman record for three-point accuracy with his 5-of-5 at Louisville last Saturday, matching career highs in points (22) and made three-pointers (five).
- Griffin is the only power conference player – and one of only 11 players nationally – shooting .500 or better from three-point range with a minimum of 50 attempts.
- Duke leads the ACC in both field goal defense (.399) and three-point defense (.295) – one of just three power conference teams this season holding opponents to below .400/.300 (LSU, Michigan State).
- Since January 1, Duke opponents are shooting just .267 from three-point range — the best percentage defense by power conference teams in that span.
- Duke has held eight of its last 10 opponents – and 14 for the season – to .300 or worse from behind the arc (12-2 in those games).
- Duke enters the game with the nation’s third best assist/turnover ratio of 1.67. The Blue Devils also rank top 20 nationally and lead the ACC in field goal shooting (.483, ranked 19th in the NCAA) and assists (17.6, ranked ninth).
- Duke’s three losses this season have come by a total of eight points – by five at Ohio State (71-66), by two at home against Miami (76-74) and by one in overtime at Florida State (79-78). In each of those three games, Duke held a lead in the games’ final two minutes.
- In the Coach K era, Duke is 266-154 (.632) in true road games and 279-77 (.784) in neutral site games, for a combined mark of 545-231 (.706) in all games outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium.
About UNC
- Armando Bacot is second in the country in double-doubles with 17, third in rebounding at 12.6 per game and fourth in offensive rebounding (3.8). He leads the ACC in double-doubles, rebounding and offensive rebounds, is third in field goal percentage, sixth in blocks and seventh in scoring.
- Bacot leads Carolina in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage (.572) and blocks (37). He also led UNC in those categories last season. No Tar Heel has ever led in those four categories in consecutive seasons.
- Five Tar Heels have scored 20 or more points in a game this season. Armando Bacot and Caleb Love each have scored 20 or more seven times, Brady Manek has four and RJ Davis and Dawson Garcia each have three 20-point games.
- Carolina is 9-0 over two seasons when Caleb Love scores 20 or more (7-0 this season) and 9-1 when he makes 50% of his field goal attempts (4-0 last season and 5-1 in 2021-22).
- Carolina has the fourth highest defensive efficiency in the ACC (KenPom). UNC is allowing 97.7 points per 100 possessions. Duke (14th), Wake Forest (51st) and Florida State (71st) are the only ACC schools rated higher in defensive efficiency this season.
- Carolina has held five opponents to fewer than 60 points at home, including a season-low 47 by Boston College.
- The Tar Heels are 22nd nationally in KenPom’s offensive efficiency, scoring 113.4 points per 100 possessions. That is fourth in the ACC behind Duke (15th), Syracuse (16th) and Miami (19th).
- Carolina’s starters have averaged 35.3 minutes over the last four games, playing 175 minutes vs. Virginia Tech, 179 vs. Boston College, 147 vs. NC State and 204 in an overtime win at Louisville.
- The Tar Heels lead the ACC in shooting 76.0% from the free throw line for the season, their best percentage since 1984-85, when they converted 76.1%. Last season, UNC shot 66.8%.
- Carolina is third in the ACC and 16th in the country in three-point percentage (.385). The Tar Heels have made 27 of 53 (.509) in the last two games. They were 12 of 26 at Louisville and 15 for 27 (.556) against NC State.
- The Tar Heels lead the ACC and are seventh in the country in rebound margin at plus 8.7 per game. UNC also leads the league and is 11th nationally in rebounds per game (41.0).
In terms of odds to win the ACC Championship title, North Carolina is a top four contender. Their odds to win are currently listed at +1100 and are trailing behind Duke (-190), Miami (+480), and Notre Dame (+750).
Duke vs UNC
- The 2021-22 season marks the 102nd anniversary of the first DukeNorth Carolina game, which was played January 24, 1920 – a 36-25 UNC win in Durham.
- Saturday’s game in Chapel Hill is the 256th all-time meeting, with North Carolina leading the series, 141-114.
- In Chapel Hill, Carolina leads 64-37, including a 20-16 record at the Dean Smith Center.
- Duke is 49-46 versus Carolina under Mike Krzyzewski.
- The series is tied 50-50 over the last 100 meetings.
- The match-up last Feb. 6 in Durham snapped an NCAA-record streak of 153 consecutive games in the series being played with at least one team ranked in the AP Top 25.
- There have been 186 games between Duke and UNC in the AP Poll era (since 1948-49) and Duke has been ranked in 119 of them (69-50). When ranked, Duke is 26-8 against unranked Carolina teams.
- Carolina and Duke have won 39 of the ACC’s 66 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championships, including 21 by Duke and 18 by UNC.
- Carolina and Duke are No. 1 and 2 all-time in the ACC in wins, ACC regular-season wins, ACC
Tournament wins and NCAA Tournament wins.
- Carolina has won the ACC regular-season title 32 times. The Blue Devils are second with 19
regular-season crowns.
- Either Carolina or Duke have played in the NCAA Final Four 25 times in the last 41 seasons.
- The Tar Heels and Blue Devils have won 10 national championships in the last 41 seasons – five by Carolina and five by Duke.
- Carolina has played in an NCAA-record 20 Final Fours. Duke has played in 16.
- The teams have three sets of high school teammates. UNC’s RJ Davis and Duke’s AJ Griffin played at Archbishop Stepanic in White Plains, N.Y.; UNC’s Leaky Black played as a senior at Cox Mill High School in Concord, N.C., with Duke’s Wendell Moore; and Anthony Harris (UNC), Trevor Keels and Jeremy Roach (Duke) played at St. Paul VI in Fairfax, Va.
How to Watch
Time: 6:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas, Holly Rowe)
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas), Blue Devils Sports Network (David Shumate, John Roth)
Per Release