By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — It’s a tall order for North Carolina.

The Tar Heels have faced height disparities all season, but nothing like they will at No. 2 Duke at 6:30 Saturday (ESPN).

The Blue Devils are the tallest team in the country, averaging 6–7½ per player, while the UNC is 322nd. The Tar Heels’ starters average between 6–4.2 and 6–3.2, depending on whether on the lineup.

Carolina (13–9, 6–4 ACC) will have to overcome that by pushing the tempo.

“Got to play with tremendous pace,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “One of the things that has been consistent with us has been our pace. When we do get a rebound and are transitioning from defense to offense, it’s been at a high level, and it’s going to have to be on a high level consistently on Saturday night.”

Duke (18–2, 10–0) has won 14 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the country, and is 11–0 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Its average winning margin in four ACC home games is 23.8 points.

The Blue Devils present the best combination of talent, height and length that UNC (13–9, 6–4) has faced since the Tar Heels’ 87–72 loss to Auburn on Nov. 26 at the Maui Invitational.

In that game, one national player-of-the-year candidate, Johni Broome, had 23 points, 19 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Those are numbers that Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, another player vying for that award, could easily put up.

“There’s not many people, especially in college, with his size, who can not only create for himself, but so easily create for his teammates,” Davis said. “They just have a lot of moving parts on the offensive end that can hurt you, whether it’s around the basket with lobs and post-ups or being able to shoot the ball from 3.

Flagg is averaging 19.9 points (a league-leading 23.5 in ACC games), 8.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks.

Freshman guard Ian Jackson was Flagg’s teammate on the East team at the McDonald’s All-America Game in April and is familiar with the challenge UNC will face.

“He’s a great player,” Jackson said. “He can do it all on the floor, whether he’s scoring or defending. I feel like he always has a way to impact the game. His motor is high. He’s a great, great player. [There are] things that he doesn’t do well that we got to kind of force him to do and get him to do.”

All the matchups are daunting:

— Center Khaman Maluach (7–2, 250 pounds) vs. Ven-Allen Lubin (6–8, 230) or Jalen Washington (6–10, 235)
— Guards Tyrese Proctor (6–6, 183) and Sion James (6–5, 220) vs. Elliot Cadeau (6–1, 180) and RJ Davis (6–0, 180)
— Wings Kon Knueppel (6–7, 217) and Flagg (6–9, 205) vs. Jackson (6–4, 190) and Drake Powell (6–6, 195) or Seth Trimble (6–3, 195)

RJ Davis, who will be at least five inches shorter than anybody he’ll battle at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, says there’s a way to overcome all that.

“Just relying on our strengths,” he said. “We’re athletic, we’re quick, we can play in the open floor, and we’re really good on defense when we talk, and we’re all bought in. I think that that’s shown throughout the games that we played well and put together a lot of great defensive possessions together.”

The problem in many games is UNC’s tendency to go through stretches with repeated defensive lapses. With the margin for error particularly slim against Duke, the Tar Heels won’t be able to get away with any of those on Saturday.

“I know we’re capable of doing it,” RJ Davis said. “We have the talent from the starting guard all the way to the starting big and even the bench players. We’re just going to rely on our strengths a lot this weekend and just go with the sense of just trusting each other.”

When N.C. State did the unexpected and led Duke by 13 points late in the first half; the Wolfpack did it by making 7 of 12 3-point attempts before halftime. When the Wolfpack cooled off and made only 3 of 10 shots from outside the arc in the second half, Duke eventually pulled away for a 74–64 victory.

Any scenario where UNC has a chance to beat Duke will have to include multiple Tar Heels getting hot from 3-point range to open up the driving lanes, and that hasn’t happened in recent games.

Since UNC’s 11 3-pointers on 50% shooting in the 82–67 home win on Jan. 7 over SMU, when three players had at least three 3-pointers — Powell (4), Davis (3) and Jackson (3) — multiple Tar Heels have scored 3-pointers only twice: against Wake Forest (Davis 3 and Cadeau 3) and Boston College (Davis 2 and Jackson 2).

Davis has started to find the range more of late, though.

“I’m just happy for the way I’ve been persevering and obviously battling with a lot of mental thoughts and overthinking, second guessing myself while playing, especially early on the year,” Davis said. “These last three games, I kind of let go a little bit. I wasn’t really trying to be perfect, trying to tell myself, I have to make every single shot, because it’s not possible.”

Davis has made 11 of 27 3-point attempts (40.7%) in the last four games and 7 of 12 (58.3%) in the previous two.

“I just kind of told myself to let go, play with a sense of freedom,” he said. “And that has allowed me to be more free out there, allow my shots to go in, take smarter shots. I feel like I’ve been a little bit more aggressive. I felt like I’m coming along again, finding myself and being more confident.”

NOTES — Duke, a 13½ point favorite and -1,200 on the money line on FanDuel, is fifth in the country in field-goal percentage (37.2%). … RJ Davis has 2,514 career points and is two behind Virginia’s Bryant Stith (1989–92) for sixth on the all-time ACC scoring list. … In ACC games, Duke leads the league in scoring offense (81.1 points per game), scoring defense (61.0), scoring margin (+20.1), field-goal percentage (49.4%), field-goal percentage defense (39.2%), offensive rebounding (39.0 per game), defensive rebounding (26.9), rebounding margin (+12.1), assists (17.6 per game) and assist/turnover ratio (1.78). … UNC leads the league in 3-point percentage defense in ACC games at 28.0%. … This is the first time an unranked UNC team has faced a top-two team since the Tar Heels won at No. 1 Michigan State 79–65 on Dec. 3, 2023. … It will be the 263rd meeting, with UNC leading 145–11 and the 88th in Cameron Indoor Stadium, with Duke leading 47–40. UNC’s 40 wins at Duke is the most by any school (N.C. State is second with 26). … UNC swept the two meetings last season, winning 93–84 in Chapel Hill on Feb. 3 and 84–79 in Durham on March 9. … Hubert Davis, who went 6–5 as a player against Duke, is 4–3 against the Blue Devils as the head coach. … The “College GameDay” show will air from Cameron at 10 a.m. Saturday, with a crew that includes former Duke players Jay Bilas and Seth Greenberg. … Dan Schulman, Bilas and Jessica Sims will be on ESPN’s call of the game broadcast. … Tyler Hansbrough, who went 4–0 as a player at Duke, will be the color analyst on the Tar Heel Sports Network.

UNC season statistics

Duke season statistics

KenPom comparison

Category	UNC	Duke
Overall ranking	39	3
Offensive efficiency	115.9 (48)	123.2 (6)
Defensive efficiency	98.3 (47)	87.9 (3)
Effective FG%	52.8 (92)	56.0 (24)
Turnover %	15.1 (36)	15.6 (54)
Offensive rebound %	27.9 (249)	35.2 (40)
FTA/FGA	35.7 (110)	32.0 (213)
Strength of schedule	11	38

Series: UNC 145, Duke 117

Last 10 games

Team	League	Overall	NET*
California	0–0	12–1	46
No. 12 North Carolina	0–0	12–1	15
No. 6 Duke	0–0	11–1	3
No. 21 Virginia	0–0	11–1	23
Miami	0–0	11–2	34
Virginia Tech	0–0	11–2	62
No. 16 Louisville	0–0	10–2	17
SMU	0–0	10–2	36
Stanford	0–0	10–2	76
Clemson	0–0	10–3	37
N.C. State	0–0	9–4	31
Notre Dame	0–0	9–4	81
Syracuse	0–0	9–4	88
Wake Forest	0–0	9–4	68
Georgia Tech	0–0	8–4	190
Florida State	0–0	7–6	129
Pittsburgh	0–0	7–6	115
Boston College	0–0	6–6	191

* — Through Tuesday games
Saturday’s game
Cal State Northridge at Stanford, 8 p.m., ACCN Extra
Sunday’s games
Le Moyne at Boston College, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cal State Fullerton at SMU, 3 p.m., ACCN Extra
Florida A&M at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Tuesday’s games
Florida State at No. 12 North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Pittsburgh at Miami, 7 p.m., ACC Network
No. 16 Louisville at California, 9 p.m, ACC Network
Notre Dame at Stanford, 9 p.m., ESPN2
Wednesday’s games
Wake Forest at N.C. State, noon, ESPN2
No. 21 Virginia at Virginia Tech, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Clemson at Syracuse, 2 p.m., ESPN2
Georgia Tech at Duke, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Friday’s game
No. 16 Louisville at Stanford, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Notre Dame at California, 11 p.m., ESPN2
Saturday, Jan. 3, games
No. 21 Virginia at N.C. State, 11 a.m., ESPN2
Virginia Tech at Wake Forest, noon, ACC Network
Clemson at Pittsburgh, noon, The CW
Boston College at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m., ACC Network
No. 12 North Carolina at SMU, 2:15, The CW
No. 6 Duke at Florida State, 3:45, CBS

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 17 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 9 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. ETSU	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	W, 71–70	vs. Ohio State	11–1
			—————————
22	Monday	W, 99–51	vs. East Carolina	12–1
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 21 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 16 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte