UNC-Duke: Joel Berry and Justin Jackson Preview Matchups, Keys to a Tar Heel Win

North Carolina closes out the regular season with a trip to Cameron Indoor on Saturday to face Duke. It’s the 262nd all-time matchup between the rivals and the 50th time they’ve faced off as top 10 opponents, with the Tar Heels holding the edge, 25-24, in the previous 49. There are also ACC Regular Season Championship implications on the line as UNC can secure the title outright with a win.

Former teammates and 2017 national champions Joel Berry and Justin Jackson joined their Inside Carolina shows this week leading up to the rivalry matchup, Berry on Up in the Rafters and Jackson on Shooting it Straight. They provided an in-depth look at key matchups and what factors will weigh heavily into deciding the game. The two also reflected on personal experiences in Cameron Indoor, providing a glimpse at what the Tar Heels are up against on Saturday

It’s going to be a way better game on Saturday,” Jackson said. “Duke is really hot right now. North Carolina has been pretty consistent throughout the season, but they seem to be playing their best brand of basketball down the stretch. It’s going to be fun. What better time to have these two teams play at their best than the last North Carolina-Duke game before tournament play starts

Here’s Berry and Jackson’s in-depth preview of the UNC-Duke matchup

Both of these teams are coming in on winning streaks. And they’re playing their best basketball. I know Duke dropped that game against Wake Forest. But it was a well fought game, just came down to the end. Carolina had the hiccup against Syracuse. And since then, both of these teams have been playing really well. You know, Duke, they play well throughout the conference, but it just seems as soon as you go from February to March, they turn it up. This is going to be a high-octane game. The second game is tougher because you can look back on that first game and see what you did wrong. And now you can fix some of those mistakes. So the chess match is going to be real and I look forward to seeing that.