Ball Durham
Fansided

Duke Basketball: Blue Devils’ star freshmen excited to be hosting Carolina

By Kevin Connelly

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 05: (L-R) Zion Williamson #1, RJ Barrett #5, Tre Jones #3 and Marques Bolden #20 of the Duke Blue Devils look on during their game against the Boston College Eagles at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 05, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 80-55. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 05: (L-R) Zion Williamson #1, RJ Barrett #5, Tre Jones #3 and Marques Bolden #20 of the Duke Blue Devils look on during their game against the Boston College Eagles at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 05, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 80-55. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Duke Basketball team and its star freshman will play North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the first time this season on Wednesday night.

It’s finally here.

The first of (at least) two games this season between the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels will take place on Wednesday night.

More from Ball Durham

The Blue Devils enter as the No. 1 team in the country while the ‘Heels are just behind at No. 8. in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll.

As everyone knows by now, Duke is led by a freshmen core of Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, Tre Jones, and Cam Reddish, however, despite North Carolina being led by its veterans of Luke Maye and Cam Johnson, the Tar Heels have two highly touted freshmen in Coby White and Nassir Little.

Those four players have been leading the way for the ‘Heels all season and combine to average 56.1 points per game out of the 87.5 points per game North Carolina averages.

The same thing could be said for Duke’s ‘Big Four’ as the Blue Devils’ freshmen average 67.6 points per game out of the 86.4 points that Duke’s averages.

North Carolina is a very hot and cold team.

If the Tar Heels start to see the ball go through the basket from 3-point range, Duke has to find a way to run UNC off the 3-point line and force the ‘Heels into taking contested two-pointers.

For Duke it’s quite the opposite. Only a handful of times this season have the Blue Devils proven it can consistently make the 3-point ball and in a major rivalry game like this, Duke must go to its bread and butter, which is getting the ball in the paint to Zion Williamson.

Three keys to a Blue Devils win against North Carolina. light. Also

While fans on both sides hope their team will win in a route, this rivalry between Duke and North Carolina always lives up to the hype and normally delivers an instant classic of a game.

Expect the same on Wednesday night starting at 9:00 pm ET on ESPN from Cameron Indoor Stadium.

PREDICTION: Duke 88, North Carolina 81

Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the North Carolina Tar Heels. 

Home/Duke Basketball