Jabari Parker dazzled on lookers in the Duke Blue Devils 93-81 win over North Carolina on Saturday evening.  Parker scored a career high 30 points to go with his 11 rebounds for another double-double.  Check out what Parker had to say post game from the Duke locker room -

Duke vs. North Carolina

March 8, 2014 • 9 p.m.

Durham, N.C. • Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314)

ESPN • Blue Devil IMG Sports Network

The Opening Tip

• In its final game of the regular season, Duke will host Tobacco Road rival North Carolina Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game, a rematch of North Carolina’s 74-66 win in Chapel Hill on Feb. 20, will tip off at 9 p.m. and air on ESPN and the Blue Devil IMG Sports Network.

• Duke climbed back into the Associated Press top five this week, jumping from No. 6 to No. 4 following a 66-48 win over Virginia Tech. Duke, also ranked No. 4 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, is 56-13 all-time when playing as the No. 4 team in the AP poll.

• Duke is attempting to close out its 18th undefeated season at Cameron Indoor Stadium and second straight. Duke has won 32 consecutive games at home, the longest streak in the country.

• North Carolina will be the sixth ranked team Duke has faced. Duke is 3-3 against ranked teams in 2013-14 with wins over No. 1 Syracuse, No. 18 Pittsburgh and No. 22 Michigan.

The Last Time Out

• Tyler Cavanaugh scored 20 points and Travis McKie added 19 to lead Wake Forest past No. 4 Duke, 82-72, Wednesday in Joel Coliseum. Wake Forest had five players score in double figures, including Codi Miller-McIntyre, who finished with 13 points, eight assists and just two turnovers.

• Duke led 66-59 with 5:44 remaining, but the Deacons mounted a 17-0 run to stake a 77-66 lead. Wake Forest outscored Duke 23-6 over the final 5:20 of the game as the Blue Devils hit just 2-of-10 field goals during that stretch.

• Duke shot just .222 (6-of-27) from three-point range for the team’s second-lowest three-point percentage of the season. Duke hit just 2-of-12 treys in the first half and 4-of-15 in the second half.

• Jabari Parker logged his fifth straight double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Duke in both categories. Rodney Hood scored 16 points and dished out four assists, while Rasheed Sulaimon added 14 points.

By The Numbers

• The Blue Devils have won 32 consecutive games in Cameron Indoor Stadium, tied for the longest active streak in the country. Duke is just one win away from completing its 18th undefeated season in Cameron, owning a 16-0 record on Coach K Court in 2013-14. Duke also went 16-0 in Cameron in 2012-13.

• Saturday’s game will serve as senior night for Duke’s class of Andre Dawkins, Josh Hairston, Tyler Thornton and Todd Zafirovski. Dawkins and Zafirovski were both part of Duke’s 2009-10 NCAA and ACC Championship team, while all four helped Duke capture the 2010-11 ACC Championship and posted a 112-25 record over the past four seasons.

• Duke has lost back-to-back games just once since the start of the 2009-10 season and is 25-1 following a loss during that span. Among Duke’s six previous victories following a loss this season are wins over No. 22 Michigan (79-69), Virginia (69-65) and No. 1 Syracuse (66-60).

• Duke owns an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.54:1, which would rank as the highest ratio since Duke began tracking turnovers in the 1970-71 season. The Blue Devils logged a school-record 1.51:1 assist-to-turnover ratio last season, bettering the previous school record of 1.32 set in 2000-01.

• Jabari Parker leads the ACC with 13 double-doubles and is one shy of tying Duke’s freshman record of 14 set by Gene Banks in 1977-78. Parker has nine double-doubles in his past 12 games and is averaging 16.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game in conference play. He leads the ACC in rebounds per game, ranks second in points per game and third in field goal percentage (.483 – 199-of-412).

• Andre Dawkins needs just three points to become the 63rd Duke player to join the 1,000-point club. Dawkins is averaging a career-best 8.4 points per game this season.

• Marshall Plumlee is averaging 6.0 rebounds, 4.3 points and 1.8 blocks over his past four games. Plumlee has 3.5 offensive rebounds per game during that stretch.

• Rodney Hood has logged six of his nine 20-plus-point performances in Cameron Indoor Stadium, including a career-best 30-point outing against East Carolina on Nov. 19. Hood scored 21 against Virginia Tech in his last appearance in Cameron and averages 17.5 points per game on his home court. Only Jabari Parker has more 20-point games in Cameron this season (9).

The Duke Blue Devils travel to Wake Forest to face the Demon Deacons on their annual Senior Day tonight. This, of course, will be their last road game of the regular season and it's a key one if Duke hopes to pull down the second seed in the fast approaching ACC Tournament.

There are several intangibles at work in this game for the Demon Deacons. Many feel that this could well be Coach Jeff Bzdeliks last home game and while this would normally point to a team which is a clear underdog, don't be fooled and think this will necessarily be a blowout win for the Blue Devils.

The bottom line is that playing Duke is like a Super Bowl to the Demon Deacon players. It's an opportunity to right the season which took a nose dive after a promising start and we must never underestimate a teams efforts.

Add to the scenario that it is Senior Night where fans will say farewell to the likes of Travis McKie, who is capable of rising to the occasion with a solid performance.

For Duke, this game is like a business trip. They want to go into Winston Salem and come out with a win and no injuries. The Blue Devils need the win for seeding purposes, not only in the ACC Tournament, but the NCAA or March Madness as well.

That said, I expect that this game could be a little closer than some think, but I do feel Duke has enough moxie to get the job done.

If that happens, expect a short press conference from Coach Mike Krzyzewski in that he'll want to get his charges back to Durham as soon as possible to rest and prep for their upcoming game with a red-hot North Carolina Tar Heels team on Saturday.

We saw just last evening how a team can play above their normal selves a bit in Georgia Tech's win over Syracuse on their home court. What I am saying is strange things happen this time of year in college basketball and Duke wants to avoid that happening to them.

All that said, Duke must take precautions not to look forward in this game and the opening minutes of said game could set the tone for the entire contest. In short, Duke needs to get out to a good start and not allow Wake to gain momentum and get their crowd into the game.

I feel Duke finds a way to win, but I also feel this game as I said earlier could be a little tougher than some think. And by 9:10 or so this evening, we'll find out if this Duke bunch found their mojo to set up a huge game on Saturday.

In short, Duke must take care of first things first.

What a difference two short weeks make. Back on February 18, Duke was set to play three games in five days and people wondered if the team would still have gas in the tank for the third game, against then #1 Syracuse.

Now the opposite issue arises: today marks the 7th straight day in which Duke hasn't played a basketball game. Good thing or not? The plus side contains items like healing the bruises and minor injuries, and using practice time to get shooting touch back, refine defensive schemes, and add new wrinkles, rather than simply preparing for the next opponent. The down side involves concepts like "rust," losing the edge, or blunting momentum. So which is it? Is having seven days off this late in the season a blessing or a curse? Let's look at the past 30 years and find out.

For starters, we're in a bit of uncharted territory. Believe it or not, going all the way back to the 1983-84 season, Duke has never had eight days between games (and thus seven days off) after January 1. Not once. So we're going to have to expand our search a little.

In games before January 1, Duke often plays on long rest, almost always in December due to either the exam break or the Christmas holiday. Altogether the team has had a 7 or more day break 57 times since 1983-84, and has won 56 of the games after the long rest (the sole loss was in the 1994-95 season, just a few weeks before Coach Mike Krzyzewski took a forced leave for medical reasons). While winning 98.2% of one's games sounds pretty great, it's also true that most of those games were scheduled against less talented teams to guard against a possible rust problem. That said, Duke's overall December record for the past 31 seasons is 89.8%, impressive but not quite as impressive as 56-1.

Considering the weak December schedule, though, perhaps we need to expand in other ways. Let's step down just a bit and look at instances of six days off (seven days between games).

Starting with games before January 1, we've had 10 six day breaks, and not surprisingly won 9 of the games after the layoff (90.0%), with the only loss coming in the 1983-84 season.

Duke also sometimes gets six days off between its last game in the ACC tournament and its first NCAA tournament game, or between an Elite Eight victory and the first Final Four game. It has happened four times before Duke's first NCAA tournament game, with the team winning twice and losing twice (in 1984 and 2007). Since the six day layoff can only happen if Duke loses early in the ACC tournament, there may have been other reasons for these losses in Duke's NCAA tournament opener. In five Final Four games after a six day layoff, Duke is 4-1, with the lone loss coming against eventual national champion Kansas in 1988.

Most apropos to our current question, of course, are games during the ACC season after six (or more) days off. This has happened just six times in the past 31 seasons, but the good news is Duke went a perfect 6-0 in those games (including the Maryland game this year and two ACC openers in December).

Lumping all games together, with six or more days off between games, Duke is 7-0 against ACC teams, 6-1 against ranked teams (the loss coming in December 1983), and 3-0 against top 10 teams.

If we dial back even further, to a five or more game layoff (including the six, seven, or longer layoffs reported above), here are the stats:

FIVE OR MORE GAME LAYOFF, 1983-84 through 2013-14 (so far)

Before January 1: 66-3 (95.7%)
Before First ACC Tournament game: 11-2 (84.6%)
Before NCAA Tournament game (first game or first Final Four game): 17-8 (68.0%)
Before Regular Season ACC game: 8-1 (88.9%)*

Before any game against ACC opponent: 20-3 (87.0%)
Before any game against ranked opponent: 12-6 (66.7%)
Before any game against top 10 opponent: 7-3 (70.0%)

* NOTE that Duke's winning percentage in regular season ACC games after fewer than 5 days off during the period was .740 (not counting 1995 when Coach K didn't coach).

So what does it all mean leading into tomorrow's game against Wake Forest? Probably not very much. But I'm leaning toward the side that says the non-opponent-related practice time and allowing our bruises and minor injuries to heal can only help Duke in the long run.