A Top 10 matchup involving Duke and North Carolina is nothing new.
However, when the teams meet Saturday night in Chapel Hill, N.C., there will be a slightly different twist due to results earlier in the week.
After a dominating stretch of victories by wide margins, No. 3 North Carolina (17-4, 9-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) had a 10-game winning streak snapped with a 74-73 loss at Georgia Tech on Tuesday.
“You can whine and complain, you can point fingers and you can make excuses or you can get back up and move forward,” Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis said. “To me, there’s not really a choice.”
Duke (16-4, 7-2), which has struggled at times across the past month and has dealt with time missed by multiple players because of injuries, has won three in a row and 11 of its past 12 games. The Blue Devils have won their last four road games, including a 77-67 victory at Virginia Tech on Monday.
“This team has been in a lot of unique environments already,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “This is the reason you come to Duke.”