For the first time of the season, Duke and North Carolina will battle for Tobacco Road bragging rights tonight.
Three days removed from an exhausting overtime win against Florida State, the No. 2 Blue Devils (21-1, 9-0 in the ACC) will travel to the Dean E. Smith Center to face off with the No. 23 Tar Heels (14-5, 5-3). The matchup will be the 220th edition of college basketball's biggest and most storied rivalry.
"This is not a normal game," Duke senior J.J. Redick said. "This is the game of the year that everybody circles. It's the game that everybody looks forward to. Growing up as a kid, I never missed a Duke-Carolina game. I've been looking forward to this game ever since we beat Florida State."
The Blue Devils and Tar Heels split last year's two contests. In each game, the home team narrowly escaped with a win, as the two games were decided by a combined three points.
North Carolina, the reigning NCAA Champions, lost their top seven scorers from last season's team, however, and feature a seven-man rotation that features four freshmen and two walk-ons.
With superstars Marvin Williams, Sean May, Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants having departed for the NBA, the Tar Heel freshmen have taken center stage. New to Chapel Hill are point guard Bobby Frasor, wingman Danny Green and stud forward Tyler Hansbrough, all of whom have seen significant minutes.
Hansbrough currently leads the defending champions in both scoring and rebounding with 17.8 points and 7.6 boards per game. He will be one of the most dangerous big men Duke's Shelden Williams will have to guard all season.
"[Williams] has to show discipline in playing Hansbrough," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Hansbrough, I think, is not just the Rookie of the Year in our conference, he's the Rookie of the Year nationally, and I think he's a first-team all-conference player."
Williams, the reigning National Defensive Player of the Year, has been dominated by some big men this season. Most notably, Indiana's Marco Killingsworth dropped 34 points on the senior, and N.C. State's Cedric Simmons lit him up for 28.
Despite the interior struggles, however, Duke was able to shut down the excellent three-point shooting of both teams.
If the Blue Devils' perimeter defense can shut down the Tar Heels' outside shooting, than it might negate any success Hansbrough has in the paint.
"Tyler's been pretty doggone consistent this season," UNC head coach Roy Williams said. "It's important against Duke because they put so much pressure on the perimeter that you have to be able to get the ball to the basket. Tyler has played against some very big guys, but I can't think of a big guy in the country who's a better defender than [Williams], so he'll be playing against the best."
Outside the key, the Tar Heels feature a three-point attack similar to that of the Hoosiers and Wolfpack, with five players averaging one or more trifectas per game.
With the return of swingman DeMarcus Nelson from injury and the continued excellent on-the-ball defense of Sean Dockery, the Blue Devils will likely attempt to shut down North Carolina from the outside while not doubling in the post often.
The Tar Heels, on the other hand, knows exactly what they have to do to stay in the game against the more experienced Blue Devils-contain Redick.
Opponents have made Redick their focus all season and few have been successful. The Duke sharpshooter has been torching the competition all season to the tune of 28.1 points per game.
Memphis' Rodney Carney, a 6-foot-7 forward, has been the only defender to hold Redick in check for an extended period of time. In Duke's 70-67 win over the Tigers Nov. 25, Carney held Redick to his only scoreless half of the season.
Roy Williams said he will throw everything he has to try to slow the Duke sniper.
"Bobby [Frasor], Wes [Miller], Marcus [Ginyard], Reyshawn [Terry], all of them will get their opportunities," he said. "In the past you got as close to [Redick] as you could and tried to bother the shot, and he's worked extremely hard to put the ball on the floor. He's a completely different challenge."
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