College basketball’s most extravagant rivalry renews this week as the No. 20 Duke Blue Devils voyage 10 miles down Tobacco Road for a midweek date with the No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels.
The first of two meetings between these teams over the final three weeks of the season comes with both teams trending in opposite directions.
The preseason’s top-ranked Tar Heels lost two straight games to begin February and nearly dropped a third to Boston College, which is 0-12 in the ACC. Carolina is hitting a skid at the worst time as it eyes the conference’s toughest remaining slate, with meetings against No.