Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels meet in Sweet 16
North Carolina Tar Heels (29-7, 15-6 ACC) vs. Duke Blue Devils (28-7, 17-4 ACC)
Birmingham, Alabama; Friday, 2:30 p.m. EDT
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Blue Devils -5.5; over/under is 124.5
BOTTOM LINE: No. 7 Duke and No. 12 North Carolina meet in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
The Blue Devils have gone 17-4 against ACC teams, with an 11-3 record in non-conference play. Duke has a 23-2 record in games decided by 10 points or more.
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The Tar Heels are 15-6 against ACC teams. North Carolina has a 3-2 record in one-possession games.
Duke's average of 6.1 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.4 more made shots on average than the 5.7 per game North Carolina gives up. North Carolina has shot at a 42.5% rate from the field this season, 3.6 percentage points higher than the 38.9% shooting opponents of Duke have averaged.
The teams play each other for the third time this season. Duke won the last matchup 68-53 on Feb. 28. Reigan Richardson scored 23 to help lead Duke to the win, and Lanie Grant scored 17 points for North Carolina.
TOP PERFORMERS: Ashlon Jackson is shooting 38.2% from beyond the arc with 2.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Blue Devils, while averaging 12.5 points. Toby Fournier is averaging 11.6 points over the past 10 games.
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Maria Gakdeng is scoring 11.1 points per game and averaging 7.7 rebounds for the Tar Heels. Lexi Donarski is averaging 13.1 points and 1.9 rebounds over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Devils: 8-2, averaging 67.3 points, 33.7 rebounds, 14.9 assists, 8.6 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 42.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 53.7 points per game.
Tar Heels: 7-3, averaging 66.2 points, 32.6 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 6.4 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 40.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.3 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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