Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN, a rivalry staple that was pushed back because of snow will happen tonight, pitting the No. 5 Duke Blue Devils (21-5, 10-3 ACC) against their archrivals a few miles down Tobacco Road, the North Carolina Tar Heels (18-7, 8-4 ACC). Live stream the game free here; Duke fans can hear the action on News Talk 1110 WBT, while Blue Devils fans can do the same on 620 The Buzz AM.
UNC head coach Roy Williams was frustrated with the late cancellation of this matchup on February 12th due to a snow storm, but is trying to keep his players steady heading into this clash.
"The frustrating thing is that you go through all the junk on game day and the stress and everything and then you don't get to play," Williams said Wednesday. "So you've got to do it twice for only one game. That's not fair. We did it last week and we'll do it again tomorrow."
Duke freshman Jabari Parker steals most headlines and rightfully so, leading Duke with 19.2 points per game and 8.7 rebounds a game, but UNC point guard Marcus Paige has quietly been one of the ACC's brightest lights. He enters play tonight giving the Tar Heels 17.2 points a night and 4.6 assists, while serving as the only long-range shooter of consequence (38.6 percent).
UNC won two more games over Pittsburgh and Florida State, following the postponement pushing their winning streak to seven games.
"We were still pretty confident, we had won a couple going into the first date for the Duke game," Paige said. "But I think, yeah, this gives us a little more confidence. The Pitt game was a big game for us. We thought we really got better that game. We're a little more confident, but I know they've been playing well, too."
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