Tar Heels, Blue Devils eager for today's showdown

Duke and North Carolina have spent the past three months battling through ACC play and getting nowhere in determining the regular-season title, but they will break their first-place tie for good today.

The winner of their game in Chapel Hill at 8 p.m. in the Smith Center will win the regular-season title and get the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament. The loser will finish as runner-up and get the No. 2 tournament seed.

Guard Dexter Strickland, a Tar Heels guard, said that his team is going to win, snapping a three-game losing streak to the Blue Devils. He said on Thursday that the Tar Heels would win the game and didn't back down on Friday.

"That's just me being confident in myself and in my team," Strickland said. "I didn't guarantee that we're going to win or was talking trash. I just felt confident. I think it was a strong statement. And I'll stand behind it. I said how I felt. If everybody plays to their potential, I don't think anybody can stop us."

Duke guard Nolan Smith found his competitive fires burning hotter on Friday after hearing Strickland's prediction.

"It motivates me when somebody says something like that and feels that way," Smith said. "It makes the rivalry what it is. He has reason to be (thinking so). The team they saw here in the first half is probably who they think we are.

"When I hear those comments, people feeling confident that they're going to win, I say, 'All right. Let's play.' "

Duke is 27-3 overall and 13-2 in the ACC. North Carolina is 23-6 and 13-2. The Blue Devils won their first game in Durham on Feb. 9 by a 79-73 score after trailing by 14 points at halftime. The Tar Heels haven't lost in six games since.

The game will be North Carolina's Senior Night, but it will be one of the oddest in the program's history. There are no recruited seniors on the roster.

Justin Knox, a 6-9 forward, is playing his first season as a graduate student after getting a degree at Alabama in three years. Coach Roy Williams said that Knox will start in his last game, but he was still deciding yesterday afternoon about other possible moves.

Williams is unsure if walk-ons Daniel Bolick, Van Hatchell and D.J. Johnston will start. They have combined to play in 26 games for 40 total minutes.

"Honestly, I still do not know," Williams said. "My staff and I talked about it this morning. There is not a unanimous consensus on what we should do. I'm going to talk to the guys a little bit this afternoon."

Seniors starting their final home games is a longtime North Carolina tradition. When coaching at Kansas for 15 years, Williams started all his seniors in their final home games. Something different or a variation of the practice could be used because of what's at stake for both teams.

"Tomorrow I'm going to try and win a game," Williams said. "If I feel it's OK, I'll start them. If I feel it's not OK, I probably won't."

Smith said that could work to Duke's favor — because the emotional burden will be on North Carolina, in honoring its seniors and in trying to stay unbeaten in the Smith Center for the season.

"It's our free shot," Smith said. "I feel in a way there's more pressure on the home team at times playing in a big game like this."

Both teams present problems for the other. Duke will force North Carolina to match its deep backcourt. In the game in Durham, Smith and Seth Curry combined for 40 points in fueling Duke's second-half rally. They made 14 of 19 shots after halftime and three of five 3-point shots.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski said that Duke's concern is still North Carolina's front line, with the added threat of Harrison Barnes' late-game shooting.

Krzyzewski considers Tyler Zeller, the Tar Heels' 7-0 center, one of college basketball's most efficient players. John Henson, a 6-10 sophomore, is the ACC's top shot blocker and one of its top rebounders.

Krzyzewski said that Zeller and Henson complement each other, and that all of Duke's front-court players will have to play aggressively from the start, unlike the manner in which they began the game in Durham.

"You can't practice against a guy like Henson unless you have a guy like Henson," Krzyzewski said. "And no one has a guy like Henson. It does knock you back with his ability to defend."

Krzyzewski said that the key will be defensive rebounding and keeping North Carolina from second-chance shots.

Duke shared last season's regular-season title with Maryland. Sophomore forward Ryan Kelly said that the players want the outright title this season to use as a springboard into the ACC Tournament and then into the NCAA Tournament.

"We're playing for championships," Kelly said. "Tomorrow is the first championship to win."

bcole@wsjournal.com