Duke-Carolina, two words that bring chills to college basketball fans. Located just ten miles away from each other, these two college basketball powerhouses have had hundreds of battles against each other.

From Michael Jordan and James Worthy to Christian Laettner and Grant Hill, these two universities are filled with a rich history of incredible amateur basketball talent that is showcased by their 11 combined national championships.

Gametime: 8:49 p.m. est.

Channel: TBS

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Somehow, Duke has never played UNC in the tournament, and now it is coming at the Final Four. Obviously, their battles in the ACC and ACC Tournament are legendary. If Saturday’s game is half as good as those, we are in for a fun night. Below we break down the history of this storied rivalry.

The all-time record in the Duke vs. North Carolina rivalry is 142-115 in 256 games with North Carolina leading. However, since 2000, Duke has made up some serious ground on UNC, going 31-21 in 52 games.

Mike Krzyzewski’s record against North Carolina is 50-47.

The legendary coach began his coaching career with Duke in 1980 and has led the Blue Devils to five national titles, 13 Final Fours and 15 ACC championships. In his last weekend of coaching college basketball, Coach K will fight to widen the gap between himself and the North Carolina Tar Heels in the history books.

Consider this the Duke vs. UNC doomsday, as most brawls end up being.

Duke was ranked fourth in the country and UNC was ranked fifth. The two teams had been festering ill will towards one another for several years, and it carried over into this matchup. With 15 seconds left in the game, future coach and then-UNC Tar Heel Larry Brown drove to the basket, where Duke’s Art Heyman fouled him. Brown turned around and threw a punch, and the whole place erupted: Coaches, players, fans, even the scorekeeper. It was an ugly scene and set the stage for decades of a heated rivalry. Duke would win the game, but the score hardly mattered.

Before their season finale with the Tar Heels, Fred Lind had scored a total of 12 points the entire season. In this game, he piled in 16 points, added nine rebounds and three blocks.

It’s not just the stats, but the manner in which he played that cemented his place in history. He blocked a shot to end regulation, he made two free throws to send the game into double overtime and he hit the game-winning, buzzer-beating shot in triple overtime to win the game. For his efforts, he was carried off the court on the shoulders of his fellow Duke students.

One of the most stunning comebacks in the history of basketball (not just college) happened in the greatest rivalry in college basketball, because of course it did. UNC was down by eight points with 17 seconds left in the game. A pair of free throws, a steal on an inbound leading to a layup, a failed inbounds attempt from Duke that went out of bounds leading to another bucket, a missed free throw at the other end by Duke and then a heave of a long shot (before the invention of the three-point line) to tie it and send it to overtime. Eight points in 17 seconds. UNC then went on to win it in overtime.

North Carolina head coach Dean Smith used his four-corner offense to essentially play keep away in this 1979 tilt that took place before the invention of the shot clock. Unfortunately, his offense couldn’t do anything in the first half – and I’m not saying that as a figure of speech. The game went into halftime with Duke holding a 7-0 lead.

North Carolina’s only two shots in the first half missed everything, leading to Duke fans inventing the term “air ball” as they chanted it at the Tar Heels. The scoring opened up in the second half, with Duke winning 47-40. 

In 1981, Krzyzewski entered the picture. He got his first of 50 career wins against UNC in 1981 in an overtime battle at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Coach K has gone on to become the greatest coach in the history of college basketball, holding the record for most career wins at 1,170, a hefty 188 ahead of Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who stands second on the list with 982.

A guy by the name of Michael Jordan was a focal point of the early-80s matchups. He ended his college career 6-2 against Duke. Coach K did get the best of Jordan in their final matchup in the ACC tournament on March, 10 1984.

The rest is history from there.

Coach K got his 500th career win against his biggest rival. At the time, Duke was 26-2 but had been crushed by UNC earlier in the year, 97-73. Down big at the half, it seemed like UNC had their number that year.

However, the king of halftime adjustments did it again. With the help of future No. 1 pick, freshman Elton Brand, the Duke Blue Devils rallied to take the lead by two late after being down by as much as 17 points. With a chance to tie, UNC freshman Brendan Haywood missed two free throws (the second one intentionally with the hope of a put-back rebound) that would have tied the game. There would be redemption for Haywood, but this was a tough one to swallow for UNC.

Matt Doherty faces off against the Duke Blue Devils for the first time as a coach. Backed by some very strong performances by Joseph Forte, Ronald Curry and Haywood; UNC was trying to scratch and claw their way to victory.

This time in a tie game, Haywood was fouled by Shane Battier and stepped to the free-throw line with 1.2 seconds left for more clutch free throws. This time Haywood calmly knocked them both down to win 85-83.

Doherty’s UNC tenure was a short one, despite winning Coach of the Year during his time there. Many players were considering transferring and he had clearly lost the trust of the team. In comes former Kansas coach, Roy Williams, to take over the UNC program.

Despite losing this one, UNC would go on to win the national championship with this nucleus of players the following year in 2005. Consider this their coming out party — UNC is back.

An absolute heartbreaker for Duke who had the ball up 73-71 with under 30 seconds to play. Duke would turn the ball over and after a foul, Raymond Felton would make one free throw and miss the second. With the score now 73-72, Marvin Williams grabbed the rebound and shot the ball in one motion, sinking the bucket and getting fouled.

This would end up being the game-winning bucket for Marvin Williams who would go on to help lead UNC to a national title. The crowd went absolutely wild.

These two teams were loaded from top to bottom. North Carolina was backed by Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes, Reggie Bullock and John Henson. Duke had Austin Rivers, Seth Curry and the Plumlee twins.

In one of the most bizarre games you’ll watch, Duke went on 13-2 run to come back and beat North Carolina. Even more unbelievable, with Duke down two on their last possession, freshman guard Rivers drilled a three-pointer to win it at the buzzer with senior Tyler Zeller in his grill. The Chapel Hill crowd was stunned and his father Doc Rivers went wild in the stands. This Duke-UNC buzzer-beater is must watch.

Before he was a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, Williamson was a can’t miss prospect for the Duke Blue Devils. The future No. 1 overall pick in the following year’s draft, Williamson had one of the most bizarre moments we have seen on a big stage.

Just over 30 seconds into the game, Williamson came off of a screen with the ball and planted on his left leg. From there, his shoe gave out and exploded on the court. The viral moment was so bizarre that Nike’s stock dropped a full one percent the following morning.

If you haven’t watched the end of this game, you need to. Down 13 with 4:30 left, all seemed lost for Duke. That was until Duke’s Tre Jones took over. Down two and with one free-throw left, Jones successfully threw the ball off of the rim, got the rebound and hit an impressive fall-away jump shot to tie the game at the buzzer.

Duke would then go on to hit another buzzer-beater, thanks to Wendell Moore, to win the game in overtime.

The final game for Coach K at the Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke was expected to win this game. In fact, BetMGM had Duke as a whopping -715 favorites.

UNC would go on to spoil Coach K’s final game in his home arena. However, fate would have it, this would not be their last matchup. They will face off Saturday at 8:49 p.m. est. Let’s go.