North Carolina, having lost three of its last four games and in danger of falling to the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, faces a tall task at No. 2 Duke on Saturday night.
And not just because the rival Blue Devils have won 14 in a row, are led by, arguably, the nation's top player in Cooper Flagg and are playing at Cameron Indoor Stadium where they've yet to lose this season.
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Duke, quite literally, is one of the nation's tallest teams and its across-the-board height is coupled with athleticism and quickness. The Blue Devils (18-2, 10-0 ACC) aren't a bunch of tall plodders.
All five players in the Blue Devils' expected starting lineup are 6-foot-6 or taller, including 7-foot-2 freshman center Khaman Maluach and the 6-foot-9 Flagg.
Duke is fifth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 59.6 points per game.
"That's a huge determining factor of why they've been so good defensively because of their length," UNC coach Hubert Davis said. "They're athletic, they're long, they can cover a lot of space."
By contrast, North Carolina's best and most effective players are smaller. UNC typically starts four players listed at 6-foot-4 or shorter, including 6-foot guard RJ Davis and 6-foot-1 guard Elliot Cadeau in the backcourt. The Tar Heels will likely face a height disadvantage at every position for the entire game.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer said his thinking on positional size has changed in recent years. As a player, he said, he didn't value rim protection and the successful Duke teams he played on often didn't have a shot-blocking center.
Scheyer said coaching recent Duke centers such as Wendell Carter, Mark Williams and Dereck Lively, led to his evolution.
"You realize, oh, this is what it feels like to have a guy that can really protect your rim," he said this week.
Duke lacked that type of player last season, but made sure to emphasize it in acquiring players in the offseason. Every newcomer to the roster is at least 6-foot-6.
"The last couple of years just led us to making the decision that this is the direction we're going to go with positional size," Scheyer said. "As long as you have the skill, the feel, enough quickness for the way I want to play."
Maluach is averaging 1.2 blocks per game but his mere presence can alter and deter shots. Flagg has 24 total blocks, one more than Maluach. And it's not simply about blocks, the Blue Devils' length leads to deflections, steals and, often, bad offense. Opponents shoot just 37.2% against the Blue Devils, who rank fifth nationally in field goal percentage defense.
"You have to have tremendous spacing," Hubert Davis said. "You have to have ball movement. You have to run your offense with pace. You've got to take care of the basketball in order to get consistent good shots. They also have the ability to switch everything."
North Carolina 6-foot-10 center Jalen Washington left the Tar Heels' overtime victory against Boston College late with a knee injury and did not play in the loss at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Washington's status for Saturday's game is uncertain.
Heels hope to be feeling '22
A victory could drastically alter UNC's sagging NCAA hopes. The Tar Heels (13-9, 6-4) have played one of the nation's toughest schedules, but lack the high-end victories (outside of a December win over UCLA) typically necessary to earn a spot in March Madness.
UNC dropped one-point games to Stanford and Wake Forest and squandered a late lead to Pittsburgh in the last two weeks. In between, the Tar Heels needed late-game heroics to defeat lowly Boston College.
The current situation bears, at least, a resemblance to 2022 when the Tar Heels stunned Duke in coach Mike Krzyzewski's final home game. UNC is hoping for a similar result. That win helped catapult the Tar Heels to an appearance in the national title game.
"Going into that game in 2022, our backs were against the wall, people didn't really believe in us but we believed in ourselves," said RJ Davis, who scored 21 points in 40 minutes in UNC's 94-81 win. "That's what got us over the hump. That's what allowed us to make that run.
"And that's the same way how I feel about this team right now. I feel like people are counting us out. People are not really believing in us. We're having a hard time finishing out games strong. I see it. I see the vision for this team."
Davis is 3-1 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Scheyer, a former player and assistant coach at Duke, has been involved in too many of these rivalry games to dismiss the Tar Heels' chances.
"The respect we have for them is as high as it can be," Scheyer said. "... This is the ultimate 'when this game happens, records are out the window.'"
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North Carolina at No. 2 Duke
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham
When: Saturday, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Records: North Carolina (13-9, 6-4 ACC); Duke (18-2, 10-0)
Statistical leaders: UNC: G RJ Davis (17.6 points per game), G Ian Jackson (14.7 points per game), G/F Seth Trimble (12.3 points, 5.4 rebounds per game), G Elliot Cadeau (10.7 points, 6.1 assists per game); Duke: F Cooper Flagg (19.9, 8.0 rebounds per game; ranks in top 10 of the ACC in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks); F Kon Knueppel (13.1 points per game, 37.3% from 3-point range), G Tyrese Proctor (10.4 points per game).