This Saturday, March 9th at 6:30 PM ET on ESPN, #7 North Carolina travels 10 miles down the road to play at their arch-rival #9 Duke, in the greatest rivalry in all of sports. UNC got the best of Duke in the season’s first matchup in Chapel Hill. They were able to win this game from a massive game out of Sr. Armando Bacot scoring 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Jr. Harrison Ingram also had his best game of the season scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 rebounds of his own. UNC lost 2 out of their next 3 after beating Duke but have been hot as of late winning 5 in a row. In the first meeting, Duke Fr. Jared McCain had a big performance putting up 23 points in a losing effort. Duke has been hot ever since, going 8-1 in ACC play with its only loss being at Wake Forest in a back-and-forth game.
On Tuesday after UNC’s win against Notre Dame on Senior Night, they clinched at least a share of the ACC Regular Season Title. If Duke can take care of business and win on Saturday, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils will share the ACC Regular Season Title. Duke’s Senior Night will be before the game and they will honor 4 seniors including Ryan Young, Jeremy Roach, Spencer Hubbard, and Neal Begovich.
Hubert Davis and John Scheyer will both have their teams ready to go in this high-intensity game with a lot on the line. College Gameday is coming to Durham and ticket prices are upwards of $1000. For UNC, they will need to rely on the soon-to-be ACC player of the year RJ Davis to be dynamic on the offensive end. Armando Bacot will need to be a force inside and not allow Filipowski to get what he wants. The X-Factor for UNC is Fr. Elliot Caudeau, who has started to come into his own as of late. Caudeau shot very poorly in the last matchup but has really begun to gain confidence in his game as time has gone on. UNC is 6-0 in games where Caudeau scores 10+ points. Duke is led by Filipowski and McCain on the offensive end. The X-Factor for Duke will be So. Tyrese Proctor who was held to just 2 points in the last meeting. He needs to heat up for Duke and force UNC to really key in on their perimeter defense to give Filipowski more open looks.
