North Carolina (11-6, 6-4 ACC) vs. Duke (7-6, 5-4 ACC)
Durham, NC – Cameron Indoor Stadium
Saturday, February 6, 6 pm ET
ESPN (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas)
Quotable
“There are some guys in the league, big guys who can kick the ball from a distance, but I don’t know if there is anyone who does it as well as Matt.” – UNC head coach Roy Williams on Matthew Hurt
“Yes, definitely, especially just for me and all the other guys who came back because of the way we lost last year. We definitely want to go out there and beat them. I’ve never tried to beat Duke, so it’s definitely something I want to be able to be a part of. ”- UNC striker Armando Bacot talks about the motivation to beat Duke
“(Caleb Love and RJ Davis) are excellent players. They developed very well. And they have those great veterans to play with. And a type of guy unknown to them is Leaky Black on the perimeter; you have a veteran who is in great games and has been successful. ”- Duke’s head coach, Mike Krzyzewski at UNC
Pre-match notes
Disappointment in Littlejohn: UNC had a good attack on Clemson on Tuesday. In the first six minutes of the second half, Tar Heels scored 15 points out of 5 out of 9 shots from the floor. In the other 34 minutes of play, they scored 35 points out of 12 out of 35 shots. Armando Bacot, UNC’s top scorer, scored a point in a field goal attempt. Day’Ron Sharpe was the only double-digit Tar Heel, marking the first time this season a UNC holder failed to score double digits. Turnover problems continued with 17 errors in the 63-50 loss to Clemson.
Duke Spotlight: The Blue Devils experienced so much, if not more, disappointment in their game before this weekend’s showdown. Krzyzewski and the team traveled to Miami on Monday, where they lost 77-75. It is the worst KenPom loss to Duke since 2002. The Blue Devils were 28th in the advanced metric system, while hurricanes were 119th. The Blue Devils are 2-4 in their last six games with wins over Georgia Tech (75-68) and Clemson (79-53) and losses to Virginia Tech (74-67), Pittsburgh (79-73), Louisville ( 70-65) and Miami.
61 years: UNC is not classified, despite having received three votes in the last AP vote. Duke is not ranked and received no vote in the most recent poll. The last time the two Tobacco Road rivals faced off without a number in front of their names was on February 27, 1960. UNC won the game 75-50.
Hurt them: Duke’s best player is also one of the best ACC players. Second-year student Matthew Hurt averages 18.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Only Justin Champagnie of Pitt has the most points and Hurt is tied for ninth place in the league in rebounds. The 1.8m tall forward stretch is the guy Krzyzewski trusts most. He played 84.0 percent of the minutes and those minutes are won, considering his effective percentage of 61.2 pitches and 123.3 of offensive rating.
Star Power: UNC had recruitment class # 2 in 2020; Duke was right behind in third position. The Blue Devils gang featured five-star recruits Jalen Johnson, Jeremy Roach, DJ Steward and Mark Williams, along with four-star recruits Jaemyn Brakefield and Henry Coleman. Only Roach, Johnson and Steward average more than 20 minutes. Steward leads the freshmen with 13.5 points per game. Johnson leads with 7.4 rebounds per game and an effective percentage of field shots of 56.8.
Offensive recovery battle: Although Tar Heels has seven offensive boards in 27 wrong shots (25.9 OR%) against Clemson, they are in second place in the country with an offensive rebound percentage of 40 percent. Duke is the 52nd in the county, with 32.6 percent. In the ACC game, UNC is number 1 with 39 percent and Duke is third with 33.4 percent. Sharpe is the eighth in the country, with 16.9%. Bacot is 41st with 13.4 percent. Williams leads Blue Devils with 15.1 percent, but does not qualify for a national classification due to 7.9 minutes per game. Johnson is second in the team, with 8.1% of missed shots.
NCAAT Curriculum: Currently, UNC is in 55th place in the NET ranking. It is 0-5 in Quad 1 games, 5-1 in Q2, 4-0 in Q3 and 2-0 in Q4. Duke is 66th in the NET ranking. The Blue Devils are 1-3 in the first quarter games, 2-1 in the second quarter, 2-2 in the third quarter and 2-0 in the fourth quarter. Saturday’s matchup is a Quad 1 game for UNC and a Quad 2 game for Duke. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi placed UNC receiving one of the last four byes. He has Duke outside looking inward.
Last meeting: Duke defeated Tar Heels on Senior Day at Cameron Indoor, 89-76, on March 7, 2020. Brooks led the UNC with 26 points out of 9 out of 22 shots. Duke returns seven points in this game, while Tar Heels returns 48 points.
Series history: UNC leads the series of all time, 139-114. At Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Tar Heels are 37-46.
UNC starters designed:
1 Leaky Black (Jr., 6-8, 195) – 6.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg
2 Caleb Love (Fr., 6-4, 195) – 10.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg
5 Armando Bacot (So., 6-10, 240) – 12.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg
15 Garrison Brooks (Sr., 6-10, 240) – 10.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg
24 Kerwin Walton (Fr., 6-5, 205) – 6.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg
Duke Starters designed:
0 Wendell Moore, Jr. (So., 6-5, 216) – 8.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg
1 Jalen Johnson (Fr., 6-9, 220) – 12.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg
2 DJ Steward (Fr., 6-2, 163) – 13.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg
14 Jordan Goldwire (Sr., 6-2, 184) – 6.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg
21 Matthew Hurt (So., 6-9, 235) – 18.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg
The Duke’s main reserves:
3 Jeremy Roach (Fr., 6-1, 175) – 8.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg
13 Joey Baker (Jr., 6-6, 201) – 1.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg
15 Mark Williams (Fr., 7-0, 243) – 2.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg
UNC Information
Schedule / Results
List and Bios
Statistics
Duke Info
Schedule
List and Bios
Statistics