It’s always the biggest day on the calendar when the Duke basketball team hosts the North Carolina Tar Heels and while its first matchup of the season might not have as much juice as others, it still has a lot on the line.
The No. 2 Blue Devils are streaking towards a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and could dream about an undefeated season in the conference, but North Carolina is just trying to reach March Madness.
Most bracket experts have the Tar Heels on the outside looking in of the field after struggling dramatically over the last two weeks, dropping games against Stanford, Wake Forest, and Pittsburgh with its only win coming at home over Boston College in overtime.
A road victory over Duke would go a long way to making the Tournament for the ‘Heels and Hubert Davis could be looking for a similar recipe that saw North Carolina sweep the Blue Devils in its two regular season meetings last year.
We look at some things that need to go right for the visitors to walk out of Cameron Indoor Stadium with a victory for the second straight season and the fourth time in the last five years.
RJ Davis gets the better of Tyrese Proctor
RJ Davis, the Preseason ACC Player of the Year, has been a bright spot for the Tar Heels this season and has led the team in scoring over its last four games. He’s averaging 17.6 points per game this season but has struggled while being matched up against Duke guard Tyrese Proctor in the last two seasons.
However, Proctor has really struggled for the Blue Devils, scoring in single digits in four of the last five games. Still, he is a good defender and will need to be a pest for Davis throughout the game even if his shots are not falling.
Whoever can win the matchup between Tyrese Proctor and RJ Davis will have an early advantage in securing the victory.