The Duke-North Carolina rivalry never disappoints, does it?
With UNC mired in its worst season in 18 years, the first chapter of the 2020 edition of the rivalry didn’t seem likely to deliver an instant classic. The Tar Heels came into Saturday at 10-12 on the season, including a 3-8 record in the ACC. Duke, meanwhile, has been a top-10 team all year, and was favored by 7.5 points in Vegas and projected to win by 11 on KenPom.
Naturally, though, this rivalry was having none of that. And the 45 minutes of game time (spaced out over nearly three hours) that followed were full of unlikely turn after unlikely turn, from Carolina's surprising control of much of the game, to a wild Duke comeback in the final five minutes of regulation that ended in an improbable game-tying sequence, to a roller coaster overtime period that ended in yet another crazy sequence by Duke, which won 98-96 on Wendell Moore's stunning put-back lay-up at the buzzer.