The key three: Duke basketball vs. North Carolina

No. 4 Duke and No. 14 North Carolina play the second installment of the Tobacco Road rivalry tonight at 9 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. To the winner goes both the bragging rights and the No. 3 seed in next weekend's ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C. The Blue Devils will also look to avenge their 74-66 loss to the Tar Heels Feb. 20 in Chapel Hill, and avoid their first losing streak of the season after falling at Wake Forest Wednesday night.

Here are tonight's keys to the game:

Be the aggressor

In the first matchup of the season, the Tar Heels got to the free throw line 31 times compared to just 12 attempts for Duke. Despite only making 20 of the 31 free throws, North Carolina was able to get the Blue Devils into crippling foul trouble—Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, Amile Jefferson, Tyler Thornton and Marshall Plumlee all finished with four fouls. The resulting disruptions to the lineup affected Duke's second-half offense. To even the season series, Duke must attack the basket and try to put the Tar Heels on the defensive and in foul trouble instead.

Go inside-out

In its last four games, Duke is shooting just 27.2 percent from behind the arc, well below its season average of 39.5 percent. The shooting woes haven't deterred the Blue Devils from continuing to launch away, as they went 6-of-27 on 3-pointers against Wake Forest. If Duke continues to struggle to hit the mark from downtown Saturday night, the Blue Devils could explore running more of the offense through Parker in the post and Hood at the elbow, where they can face the basket and attack.

Play a full 40 minutes on Paige

Rasheed Sulaimon, Tyler Thornton and Quinn Cook combined to shut out Tar Heel point guard Marcus Paige in the first half, holding the sophomore to 0-of-2 shooting and three turnovers. In the second half, Paige scored 13 points and was the catalyst of North Carolina's late run to overtake the Blue Devils, driving to the basket for a couple clutch baskets down the stretch. Shutting down Paige would be nice but not realistic; containing him for 40 minutes is a must.