A brand new period of faculty basketball’s most historic rivalry will get underway Saturday as Duke hosts North Carolina within the first assembly between the groups with out Mike Krzyzewski teaching for the Blue Devils since his retirement after final season. As a substitute, its first-year coach Jon Scheyer who’s main Duke in what quantities to a pivotal ACC battle because the squads play for the 259th time in collection historical past.
Duke (14-5, 5-4 ACC) enters as a projected No. 6 seed for the NCAA Match in Jerry Palm’s Bracketology and has but to lose at Cameron Indoor Stadium this season. North Carolina (15-6, 7-3) enters as a projected No. 9 seed for the Massive Dance after a 65-64 house loss to Pitt on Wednesday. However the Tar Heels should not be in the least flustered by what figures to be a rowdy street setting.
In coach Hubert Davis’ first season as UNC’s coach a yr in the past, the Tar Heels walloped Duke 94-81 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Krzyzewski’s closing house sport as coach. North Carolina famously went on to beat Duke once more practically a month later in one of the memorable Remaining 4 video games of NCAA Match historical past to finish Coach Okay’s profession.
However historical past is historical past and the truth is that each groups are nonetheless discovering their approach within the 2022-23 season even after Remaining 4 runs a season in the past. Duke is closely reliant on freshmen and is led by versatile seven-footer Kyle Filipowski. Due to their youth and Scheyer’s inexperience, the have navigated ups and downs, however this sport marks an opportunity for Duke to win three consecutive video games for the primary time since early December.
In distinction, North Carolina is without doubt one of the oldest energy convention groups within the nation with a number of key contributors again from final season. However the Tar Heels have handled loads of struggles anyway after starting the season ranked No. 1 within the AP ballot.
Easy methods to watch Duke vs. North Carolina stay
Date: Saturday, Feb. 4 | Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium — Durham, North Carolina
TV: ESPN | Dwell stream: fuboTV (Strive totally free)
Duke vs. North Carolina prediction, picks
Featured Sport | Duke Blue Devils vs. North Carolina Tar Heels
North Carolina middle Armando Bacot is troublesome for everybody to defend, however he might show to be significantly difficult for the Blue Devils to cowl as it will likely be freshmen Kyle Filipowski and Dereck Vigorous tasked with bruising towards him on the block. A lot of UNC’s roster is aware of firsthand what it is wish to win inside Cameron Indoor Stadium and shall be significantly motivated Saturday due to a poor exhibiting towards Pitt on Wednesday. This would be the first style of faculty basketball’s greatest rivalry for lots of the Duke gamers, and it could possibly be too massive of a second for a squad that has operated outdoors the nationwide highlight since a few massive November video games. Prediction: North Carolina +3
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