UNC (12-6, 7-4 ACC) edged Duke (7-7, 5-5 ACC) 91-87 in the first meeting between the two rivals.

It was the first meeting between the two since 1960 where both were unranked. But both the final score and the back-and-forth nature of the game wouldn't have indicated that.

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Only UNC ever held a double-digit lead, and its biggest was 12 points in the second half. But Duke fought back and routinely cut the UNC lead to one score or tied it, even taking the lead briefly.

But UNC always had a response.

Freshman point guard Caleb Love had a career-high 25 points to lead all scorers, hitting 9 of 16 shots and 4 of 5 from the 3-point line.

UNC as a team was uncharacteristically good from beyond the arc, hitting 10 of their 15 attempts.

Duke wasn't far behind, making 11 of 15 from distance. But it wasn't enough.

UNC made seven of its first eight shots from the field but went cold later in the first half, still ending the game shooting over 53 percent.

Turnovers were a big story for both teams, as was foul trouble. UNC had 16 turnovers which Duke turned into 20 points, but UNC turned Duke's 15 turnovers into 28 points.

Matthew Hurt, Duke's leading scorer, spent the game in foul trouble and finished with just seven points, fouling out in 22 minutes. He had just seemed to get going when he fouled out with less than five minutes to go.

While Duke was led in scoring by freshman guard Jeremy Roach with 16 points, Duke's bench was the reason they were in the game in the first half, pouring in 36 points. Some of that was due to talented freshman big man Jalen Johnson not starting for Duke (he finished with 14 points), but Joey Baker also stepped up with 11 points off the bench.

UNC's size was just too much for Duke to handle. Starting big men Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot combined for 28 points and 12 rebounds on 11 of 21 shooting. Freshman Day'Ron Sharpe came off the bench to add anohter 11 points and nine rebounds.

Free-throw shooting and Duke's 3-point shooting helped keep things close. UNC was 13 of 22 from the foul line (59.1%) but that actually improved in the late game as they made 9 of 10 down the stretch.

Wendell Moore, Jr. had a chance to cut the margin to two points with 46 seconds to go, but he missed the free throw on the and-1 attempt. UNC still turned it over on its next possession and freshman DJ Steward laid it in to cut the UNC lead to one, but Leaky Black went 1 of 2 from the line to put UNC up by two. Moore was whistled for the travel and turnover with nine seconds left and Black redeemed himself by making both of his free throws to put UNC up by four, and that was it.