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CHAPEL HILL – The 261st meeting between Duke and North Carolina takes place Saturday night at the Smith Center, when the third-ranked Tar Heels and seventh-ranked Blue Devils tip off at 6:30 PM. The game will air on ESPN.
UNC is 17-4 overall and 9-1 in the ACC. Duke is 16-4 and 7-2.
Here are a bunch of notes leading into the battle between the Heels and Devils:
• Carolina and Duke play for the 261st time when the Tar Heels host the Blue Devils in a meeting of the top two teams in the ACC standings on Saturday, February 3, in the Smith Center.
• This is the 49th game in which both UNC and Duke are ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press poll. That's the most top-10 games between two teams in college basketball history. The next highest total is 14 – between the Tar Heels and NC State.
• All-time UNC-Duke results are on pages 7-9 and series notes are on page 10.
• The Tar Heels are 17-4, 9-1 in the ACC, while Duke is 16-4, 7-2.
• Carolina is 9-0 in the Smith Center this season and 36-5 at home in Hubert Davis' three seasons as head coach.
• Carolina's 10-game winning streak and 9-0 start to conference play ended Tuesday night in Atlanta with a 74-73 loss to Georgia Tech. The Tar Heels had won 10 in a row for the first time since an 11-game win streak in 2017 and were 9-0 in the ACC for the first time since 2001.
• Carolina's 75-68 win at Florida State on January 27 was UNC's 750th regular-season ACC win, becoming the first program to win 750.
• Carolina is No. 3 in the Associated Press poll for the second week in a row. These are UNC’s highest rankings since being ranked third in the final three weeks in 2018-19.
• This is the 36th different season in which UNC is ranked third or higher in the AP poll.
• This is also the 36th different season the Tar Heels compiled at least one streak of 10 or more wins (first time since two such streaks in 2015-16).
• RJ Davis is the ACC's leading scorer in all games (21.5 points per game) and ACC games (21.9). Midway through conference play, Davis is a leading candidate for national and ACC awards.
• Davis and Armando Bacot made the late-January updated top 20 list for the Wooden Award (UNC and Kansas were the only two teams with multiple players on the list).
• Davis (Jerry West Award), Bacot (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award) and Harrison Ingram (Julius Erving Award) were among 10 players, respectively, on the updated lists announced this week for the Basketball Hall of Fame's positional awards.
• Davis was named a mid-season first-team All-America by The Athletic and has won National Player-of-the-Week and ACC Player-of-the-Week honors three times.
• Ingram leads the ACC in rebounds in conference play (11.5 per game) and is fourth in all games (career-high 8.8 per game).
• This is the first time UNC is playing another top-10 (AP) opponent since 12/8/2019, when No. 7 Virginia beat the fifth-ranked Tar Heels, 56-47, in Charlottesville.
• The last time the Tar Heels won a top-10 matchup was 3/4/2019, when freshman Coby White scored 21 points to lead No. 3 Carolina past No. 4 Duke, 79-70, in the Smith Center.
• Carolina is No. 7 in the country in KenPom.
• ESPN ranks UNC’s strength of record No. 5 in the nation behind Purdue, Houston, UConn and Wisconsin.
• Carolina’s schedule is ranked 13th in the country by KenPom and 15th by ESPN.
• The Tar Heels are 4-2 against AP-ranked opponents this season with wins over No. 20 Arkansas, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 16 Clemson (rankings when UNC played those teams).
• The Tar Heels are No. 4 in the country in defensive efficiency (92.5 points allowed per 100 possessions) and No. 19 in offensive efficiency (117.8 points scored per 100 possessions).
• The Tar Heels’ highest national finish since 2001 in KenPom's defensive efficiency was
fourth in 2010-11 (90.4).
• UNC is one of five teams (with Arizona, Auburn, Houston and Purdue) that rank in the top
20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
• Carolina is 9-1 in the ACC despite having just one player (RJ Davis, who is first) in the top 10 in the league in scoring.
• From January 6-22 Carolina won seven straight ACC games by double digits, most since winning 10 straight in 1992-93.
• The Tar Heels have outscored their opponents, 416-318, in the second half in ACC play, a margin of 9.8 points per game. The opponents are averaging 31.8 points in the second half in ACC play. Georgia Tech outscored the Tar Heels, 37-36, in the second half in the Yellow Jackets' win on Tuesday.
• Carolina’s defense has held ACC opponents to 37.3% from the floor and 26.8% from three-point range.
• Carolina is 23rd nationally and second in the ACC (behind Virginia) in FG defense and 27th nationally and first in the ACC in three-point percentage defense.
• The Tar Heels have held ACC opponents below 70 points in 21 of the last 28 games.
• Carolina has out-rebounded its opponents in 10 straight games and is plus 129 on the boards in those games, nine of which were victories.
Carolina-Duke
• Carolina is 143-117 all-time against Duke.
• That includes 65-39 in Chapel Hill, including 20-18 in the Smith Center.
• The Blue Devils won both games last season, while the Tar Heels have won four of the last seven.
• This is the first time both teams are ranked in the AP poll since the 2019 ACC Tournament semifinals in Charlotte, when No. 5 Duke edged No. 3 UNC, 74-73.
• This is the 49th time UNC and Duke are both ranked in the AP top 10. Both teams have won 24 times in the top 10 matchups. No other teams have played that many times as top-10 opponents.
• Carolina and Duke are No. 1 and 2 all-time in the ACC in wins, ACC regular-season wins, ACC Tournament wins, NCAA Tournament wins, Final Fours and NCAA championships.
• Carolina has won the ACC regular-season title 32 times. The Blue Devils are second with 20.
• Carolina and Duke have played in the Final Four a combined 27 times in the last 43 seasons.
• The Tar Heels and Blue Devils have combined to win 10 national championships in the previous 43 seasons – five by Carolina and five by Duke.
• Armando Bacot has averaged 15.1 points and 9.4 rebounds and has blocked 15 shots in
nine games against the Blue Devils. He has four double-doubles, including each of the last three games.
• Bacot has scored in double figures in all nine games with a high of 23 in the win at Duke in 2022 when he made 10 of 11 field goals.
• Bacot grabbed 21 rebounds in the 2022 victory in the national semifinals in New Orleans.
• RJ Davis has scored in double figures in the last five games against Duke over the previous two seasons. He averaged 15.6 points in those five games, including 21 in the 2022 win at Duke. He had 18 points and four assists in the Final Four win and 17 points last year in Chapel Hill.
• Cormac Ryan has scored 42 points in four previous games vs. Duke. He set a then-career-high with 28 points at Cameron while playing for Notre Dame in 2021. He was 10 for 16 from the floor and made four three-pointers in that game.
• Jae'lyn Withers has played in five games against the Blue Devils. As a freshman at Louisville in 2020-21, Withers averaged 13.7 points and 7.3 rebounds in three games vs. Duke.
*Statistics courtesy of UNC Athletics and Duke Athletics.
