Unranked Duke (22-8 SU, 11-19 ATS) makes the short trip to Chapel Hill to take on unranked North Carolina (19-11 SU, 10-19-1) in the biggest rivalry in college sports, which takes place at 6:30pmET from the Dean Smith Center on Saturday.
Duke (13-6 ACC, 4th) got a little bit of revenge from getting swept last season as they beat the Tar Heels 63-57 as a 2.5-point favorite at home on Feb. 4. This game is even more important than usual as Duke is playing for a higher seed in the ACC and NCAA Tournament, while UNC is 11-8 in the ACC and trying to cement an NCAA at-large bid.
Duke has eight losses this season and while some people expected some bumps under new coach Jon Scheyer, they are finally back to playing Duke basketball after winning five straight games. This is still below standards for Duke, who are looking to potentially gain a third seed in the ACC Tournament and five or sixth seed in the NCAA Tournament with a victory. In Duke's last game, they were able to get by NC State at home, 71-67 as a 6.5-point favorite. Jeremy Roach led the Blue Devils with 20 points, but shot just 0-of-5 from beyond the arc. They shot just 42% from the field and just 2-of-19 from beyond the arc. Duke was able to corral the win because they outrebounded the Wolfpack by 10 and held them to 38% shooting from the field.
too smooth @Jeremyroach10
?? ESPN pic.twitter.com/3Nt53gIOSK
— Duke Men's Basketball (@DukeMBB) March 1, 2 023
This is a good Duke offensive team, but unlike teams of the past, they are below average from the three-point line. This season, they are shooting just 34% (11th in the ACC) from beyond the arc and they rank fifth in the defending the three (32.8%). In comparison, last season, they ranked fourth (36.6%) in three-point shooting and this is the worst shooting since 2018-19 when they finished 13th in three-point shooting (31.1%). Overall, they are shooting just 44.6% from the field (9th), but they rank first in rebounding margin (8.5). Another weakness for the Blue Devils is taking care of the ball, as they rank 14th in turnover margin (-1.10).
Freshman center Kyle Filipwoski leads the Blue Devils with 14.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game on 42.5% shooting (27.7% 3pt). Roach adds 13.2 points per game on 42.2% shooting (32.7% 3pt) with 3.3 assists.
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