[4 AP / 3 Coaches] Duke (26-4, 13-2) vs. [6 AP / 6 Coaches] North Carolina (26-4, 13-2)
Saturday, March 3, 2012 • 7:00 p.m. • ESPN
The Opening Tip
• Duke (26-4, 13-2) faces North Carolina (26-4, 13-2) on Saturday, March 3, in Cameron Indoor Stadium at 7:00 p.m.
• Dan Shulman (play-by-play), Dick Vitale (analyst), Jay Bilas (analyst) and Erin Andrews (sideline) will call the game for ESPN.
• Duke is ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll and No. 3 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. North Carolina is ranked sixth in both polls. The Blue Devils are 52-10 when ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll. North Carolina ranks sixth in both polls.
• Duke and North Carolina are tied for first place in the ACC. The winner of Saturday’s game wins the ACC Regular Season Championship and earns the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament.
• Duke and Michigan State are the only teams in the NCAA to rank in the top 5 in RPI, Strength of Schedule as well as the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls.
Duke-North Carolina Series
• Duke and North Carolina have met 233 times heading into Saturday’s game with the first meeting coming on Jan. 24, 1920. Duke is 102-131 in those games.
• Saturday’s meeting will mark the 44th time that both teams are ranked in the AP Top 10.
• Mike Krzyzewski is 37-36 all-time against North Carolina with a 16-15 mark in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Krzyzewski did not coach either game against North Carolina during the 1994-95 season.
• Duke has won five of the last six in the series, including an 85-84 win in Chapel Hill on Feb. 8, 2012, in the last meeting between the two schools.
• Duke has won 22 of the last 32 games in the series dating back to the 1998-99 season. The Blue Devils have won nine of the last 14 games in Durham during that span.
• Duke has won both regular season meetings against North Carolina seven times under Coach K, last accomplishing that in 2009-10.
Numbers Game
l Seth Curry averages 17.0 points per game in four career games against North Carolina, which ranks as the 17th highest by a Duke player that has played at least four games in the series. Curry’s 17.0 ppg. ranks as the seventh highest average in the series among Coach K’s players. Curry has scored in double figures in all four games, including two 20-point efforts.
l For the seventh time in the 92-year series history, Duke and North Carolina will meet with the ACC Regular Season Championship on the line. The teams also met in 1958, 1967, 1978, 1991, 2008 and 2011 with the winner earning the league’s regular season crown.
l For only the fourth time in school history, four Duke players — Andre Dawkins (66 made 3-pointers), Seth Curry (53 3-ptrs.), Austin Rivers (52 3-ptrs.) and Ryan Kelly (40 3-ptrs.)— have hit at least 40 three-pointers. Dawkins and Kelly are shooting over 40.0 percent, while Curry and Rivers are shooting over 39.0 percent. No Duke team has had four players shoot over 40.0 percent from three-point range (minimum 20 made three-pointers).
l Duke leads the ACC in both three-point percentage (.390) and made three-pointers (252). The Blue Devils have hit at least eight three-pointers in eight of the last nine games. Duke averages 25.2 points per game from the three-point line.
l Duke is holding opponents to a .313 three-point shooting percentage this season and an average of just 4.5 three-pointers per game. ACC teams are shooting just .294 from the three-point line against Duke.
l Duke has been ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll for 91 straight weeks, tied for the second-longest streak in NCAA history.
l The Blue Devils are 15-3 on the year in games decided by 10 points or less. The Blue Devils have eight wins in ACC play by less than 10 points. Duke’s 15 wins by 10 points or less are the most in school history.
l Seth Curry has scored 15 or more points in seven of the last eight games. He is averaging 17.6 points while shooting 46.5 percent (46-of-99) from the field and 45.8 percent (22-of-48) from three-point range in that span.
l Curry leads the ACC with a .874 (90-of-103) free throw percentage. That would rank as the eighth highest in a season in Duke history.
l Miles Plumlee is averaging 7.4 points and 12.0 rebounds (4.5 orpg.) over his last six games. The senior forward has grabbed 10 or more rebounds four times in that span and has led Duke in rebounding in five of those games.
l Andre Dawkins ranks second in the ACC with a .413 three-point shooting percentage. Dawkins is 66-of-160 from beyond the arc this season and ranks third in made three-pointers.