In all honesty, it’s hard to top the last meet up between Duke and UNC. The overtime tilt that took place at Cameron Indoor on February 18 was arguably the purest display of college basketball greatness.
Now let’s see if the rematch lives up to the premiere bout. That first game was so nice… but can they do it twice?
The No.3 Blue Devils almost came unhinged against the No.19 Tar Heels in Durham last month, letting a 13-point lead get away from them. They were even trailing with just a couple minutes in hand, before coming back to knot things up late and give the spectators some truly nail-biting free hoops. Frankly, the only time Cameron got quiet was when Jahlil Okafor collapsed on the court with an apparent ankle injury–even watching the match on TV, you could hear a pin drop.
Speaking of Okafor: Even when taking into consideration his weak ankle, the last meet up with North Carolina wasn’t one of his better games. Not that 22 points a piece from Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook are anything to sneeze at. But the freshman phenom and Wooden Award hopeful hasn’t found that push in clutch game situations yet, which is something that would benefit his team in the rematch with the Heels and their second-league-ranked rebound on Saturday.
North Carolina will want revenge on their home turf, on top of having lost their last tilt at the Dean E. Smith Center to NC State a few games back. They are, however, coming off an 81-49 slaughter of Georgia Tech, so keeping momentum on their side could pay dividends. Freshman Joel Berry II led the Heels with 15 points against GT–if he wants to have another game like that to give Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks some help cushion–and more opportunities for offensive rebounds–things could swing in UNC’s favor.
Or, this could be another back-and-forth, too-stressful-to-fathom game. But hey, what better way to end the season, right?
Tip off for the UNC-Duke rematch is scheduled for 9pm Eastern on ESPN.
*Section Photo credit to Grant Halverson, Getty Images; Featured Photo (above) credit to Mark Dolejs, USA Today Sports
