This could be the first and last all in one for Duke freshman sensation Cooper Flagg, who gets his first taste of the Tobacco Road rivalry at Chapel Hill on Saturday night.
The final stop in the regular season for No. 2 Duke comes against streaking North Carolina in another edition of the storied rivalry Saturday night with plenty at stake.
“I think it’ll be a really fun environment to play in,” Flagg said. “Obviously, they’re going to pack it out and it’s going to be a crazy environment. They’re a really good team and they’ve been on a tear recently as well.”
Duke (27-3, 18-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) has won seven games in a row. The Blue Devils have posted nine victories by a margin of 30 points or more, including the last four outings.
“It’s not normal what these guys are doing, and we don’t take it lightly, and we don’t take it for granted,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “We know the job (is) not done. It doesn’t entitle you to any more wins the rest of the season.”
North Carolina (20-11, 13-6) owns a season-best six-game winning streak. Many college hoops pundits opined this week that the Tar Heels still need a notable victory to bolster their chances for an NCAA Tournament invitation.
“I feel like every game, our guys are seeing and experiencing what it looks like to consistently play at that level and stay at that level, and what that does for us as a team,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said.
Duke might be in position to move to No. 1 in the country because top-ranked Auburn lost this week at Texas A&M. But that’s not the No. 1 focus of the Blue Devils, who understand further fallout is a risk with a loss at UNC.
Should the Blue Devils lose to North Carolina and Clemson and Louisville win, it would leave Duke as the No. 3 seed for the ACC tournament.
Duke won the first meeting vs. North Carolina 87-70 on Feb. 1, with freshmen Kon Knueppel and Flagg racking up 22 and 21 points, respectively. The Blue Devils led that game by 32 points with about nine minutes to play. North Carolina’s leading scorers were RJ Davis and Drake Powell with 12 points apiece.
The Tar Heels have reached the 20-win level for the 65th time, with a dominating performance in Tuesday night’s 91-59 rout at Virginia Tech.
North Carolina has had four consecutive games with five double-figure scorers, something that had never been accomplished for the program within ACC play.
Duke also had five double-figure scorers in Monday’s 93-60 dismantling of visiting Wake Forest. The Blue Devils made a season-high 15 shots from 3-point range.
“What has really allowed us to shoot the ball better from the outside has been our persistence to dominate points in the paint through post, penetration and offensive rebounding,” Hubert Davis said. “It’s generating good 3s, open 3s, and a number of people are hitting those open shots.”
Tar Heels freshman Ian Jackson has made five 3-pointers in three different games. He was 1-for-4 outside the arc in the first Duke game.
On Saturday night, RJ Davis, a senior guard, will set an ACC record by appearing in his 170th career game. He’s in his fifth season, granted an extra year because of the pandemic. Davis said he’s leaving Chapel Hill with a legacy of overcoming adversity, and considers this year’s team no different. He expects a much different version of the Tar Heels to take the court Saturday than the one that visited Duke last month, boosted by confidence of their recent run through ACC opponents.
“And I think we’ve found our recipe these past couple games, past couple weeks leading up to (Duke),” he said. “I just think our motto right now is: whatever it takes, and whatever it takes to win. We’re diving into doing the little details, the little things allowing us to make these stretches, these runs, and overall have fun. And our preparation has been huge – I think that’s what’s been huge for us and our maturity level.”
This will be the final game with Duke for assistant coach Jai Lucas, who has accepted the head coaching position at Miami and will leave the Blue Devils after this weekend to begin his duties with the Hurricanes. Lucas has been with Duke for Scheyer’s three seasons.
“(The timing) is not ideal,” Scheyer said of Lucas’ departure. “But there’s no other option.”
–Field Level Media
