Rare occasions for UNC, Duke

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CORRECTION The last time Duke and North Carolina lost men's basketball games on the same day was Feb. 2, 2003. Duke lost 75-70 at Florida State, and North Carolina lost 79-75 to Wake Forest. A story Friday on Page 4C reported the wrong date in 2003 as the last time both schools lost on the same day.

****** If you woke up this morning thinking there was something unusual about Wednesday night, well, you're right.

And it's not just because two guys in the same foursome made holes-in-one in the same round at Carolina Country Club in Raleigh on Wednesday afternoon.

North Carolina was crushed at home 82-69 by Wake Forest on the same night that Duke fell 88-74 in a thumping at N.C. State. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils hadn't lost on the same night in seven years. They hadn't lost on the same night by double-digit margins in 13 years.

Why? They've been consistently good, and on the rare occasions when one team has been down, the other has been up. From 2000 to 2009, Duke won more games than any other team in any decade. North Carolina made four Final Four trips with two NCAA titles in the same decade.

The last time Duke and North Carolina lost on the same day was Jan. 22, 2003. N.C. State used 21 points from Clifford Crawford on that day to stop Duke 80-71 in Raleigh. Maryland defeated North Carolina at the Smith Center on that same day, 81-66, as guards Drew Nicholas and Steve Blake combined for 37 points.

You have to go back 13 years to find a date on which both teams lost by double-digit margins. On Jan. 11, 1997, Duke lost 81-69 at home to Wake Forest, and North Carolina fell 75-63 at Virginia.

How long ago was that? It was just Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's second season after returning from the back problems and exhaustion that derailed his program in 1994-95. North Carolina had Dean Smith on the bench in 1997 and has changed coaches three times since then.

The teams' struggles now have another first-in-a-long-time event possibly on the horizon next week. Either Duke or North Carolina (or both) has been ranked in the top 10 of The Associated Press' poll since the final poll of the 2003 season.

North Carolina, which is No. 24 this week, seems destined to fall out of the top 25 when the poll is released Monday. Duke is No. 7 and could fall out of the top 10 if it loses at Clemson on Saturday.

And after what happened Wednesday, neither Duke nor North Carolina can take anything for granted.

Read more on Duke and UNC at newsobserver.com/headtohead.