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Duke vs North Carolina: 25 best games ever in the Tobacco Road rivalry

DURHAM, NC - MARCH 03: (L-R) Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils greets head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels before their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 3, 2012 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NC - MARCH 03: (L-R) Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils greets head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels before their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 3, 2012 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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DETROIT – APRIL 06: Tyler Hansbrough #50 of the North Carolina Tar Heels (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
DETROIT – APRIL 06: Tyler Hansbrough #50 of the North Carolina Tar Heels (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

15. 01/19/1985

Welcome to the new era of Duke basketball under Coach K. The Blue Devils were close to building a consistent winner and building themselves into the program they are today. Duke star Johnny Dawkins was tired of getting whipped by the Tar Heels. The last game the two of these teams met marked a turning point in the Duke program and Dawkins followed up his performance in the ACC tournament win the year before with an even better performance. Dawkins finished with 34 points, eight rebounds, four steals and four assists. The performance by Dawkins led Duke to a win in Chapel Hill, breaking the Tar Heels 18-game winning streak on their home floor. Duke wins 93-77.

14. 03/09/2003

Matt Doherty was still the coach of the Tar Heels and was in the middle of the third uninspiring year. The Tar Heels entered this game on a six-game losing streak against Duke. The Tar Heels had three fantastic freshmen in Sean May, Rashad McCants and Raymond Felton. They were the catalysts in this game. McCants finished the game with 26 points, Felton ended the game with a near triple-double with 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. The Tar Heels missed the tournament again for the second year and ended with 17 losses a year after going 8-20. That was it for Doherty at UNC and opened the door for Roy Williams to become the coach for the Tar Heels. North Carolina finally beat Duke. The Tar Heels win 82-79.

13. 02/12/2009

Duke and North Carolina were ranked in the top 10 and both teams had loaded rosters. That didn’t matter to the North Carolina duo of Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough. They would join Tim Duncan and Rusty LaRue as the only players to ever win four straight games at Cameron Indoor Stadium.  It was all North Carolina from the jump. The Tar Heel win snapped a 14-game win streak at Cameron for Duke. This Tar Heel team was also the first team in nine years to put up triple digits on Duke. North Carolina wins 101-87.

12. 12/05/1980

When this game took place, no one knew that Coach K, who was in his first year as the head coach at Duke would turn them into one of the five elite programs in the sport and would be one of the games legendary coaches. This was the first taste of the rivalry for Coach K and it was played during an in-season tournament called The Big Four. North Carolina star James Worthy lived up this nickname of “Big Game James,” and scored 26 points with nine rebounds.

Worthy made eight straight shots at one point during his dominating performance. Despite all that Duke still had a 2-point lead with just over two minutes left. At the end of the game, another Tar Heel star had his shining moment. Matt Doherty was fouled after a made basket. He made the free throw and led the Tar Heels to a two-point victory 78-76.

11. 03/06/2005

North Carolina had already clinched their first outright ACC title since 1993. Everyone always says that Basketball is a game of runs, that fact was true in this game as in the second half as the game was tied at 64 Duke went on a 9-0 run. Then North Carolina followed that with an 11-0 run over the final minutes of the game. The run was capped by a Marvin Williams three-point play with 17 seconds left. North Carolina star Sean May was unbelievable in this game as he had 26 points and 24 rebounds. The victory was made sweeter for North Carolina fans knowing that JJ Redick missed a last-second three to win the game for Duke. North Carolina hangs on 75-73.