Duke and North Carolina renew the biggest rivalry in college basketball on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The most recent meeting between the Tobacco Road foes was a another classic, as Derryck Thornton came up with a huge block in the final possession to clinch a 74-73 comeback win for the Blue Devils on February 17. Grayson Allen had 23 points and Brandon Ingram added 20, while UNC's Brice Johnson led all scorers with 29 and also brought down 19 rebounds.
This time, conference tournament seeding will very much be on the line. North Carolina (24-6, 13-4 ACC) came into Saturday tied with Miami atop the ACC, with Duke (22-8. 11-6) a game behind Virginia and Louisville for the tournament's double-bye.
Here's how the Blue Devils and Tar Heels stack up:
A couple stats that stand out in the above graphic: Duke's 38.9 percent to 31.6 percent advantage from 3-point range, while North Carolina has 5.4 more rebounds per game.
As shown below, the Heels are the best scoring, rebounding and assisting team in the conference, but Duke is right behind in points per game.
As for how they compare in various percentages, check out the chart below:
Finally, let's take a look at two of the stars. While Brice Johnson and Brandon Ingram differ in age and experience -- Johnson is a senior, Ingram a freshman -- their stats, in some respects are incredibly similar. Both will have to play an important role for their teams to come out victorious.
So, who wins? UNC leads the all-time series 133-108, but Duke has won six of the past seven meetings. If the stats tell us anything, it's going to be another classic at Cameron Indoor on Saturday night.
