Duke

Duke and UNC clash tonight. How to watch, here’s the betting line

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams laughs with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski before Duke’s game against UNC at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020.
North Carolina head coach Roy Williams laughs with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski before Duke’s game against UNC at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020. ehyman@newsobserver.com

Because Duke is not selling tickets to games at Cameron Indoor Stadium this season due to the pandemic, the atmosphere for Saturday’s basketball game with rival North Carolina will be far less lively.

On top of that, the two teams are playing against each other as unranked teams for the first time since Feb. 27, 1960, with neither yet assured of making the NCAA tournament.

On top of that, both Duke (7-6, 5-4 ACC) and UNC (11-6, 6-4 ACC) enter Saturday’s game off losses. Duke fell at Miami, 77-75, on Monday while Clemson beat UNC, 63-50, on Tuesday.

Unranked? Both coming off losses? Those things haven’t all happened for a Duke-UNC game since Dec. 29, 1950, when they met in the Dixie Classic at Reynolds Coliseum. Colgate beat coach Harold Bradley’s Blue Devils the day before, the same day Navy handled coach Tom Short’s Tar Heels.

So, here’s how to watch this year’s initial clash between Duke and UNC, with a look at the betting lines:

HOW TO WATCH UNC-DUKE BASKETBALL

The game tips off at 6:08 p.m. and is televised on ESPN, which is available on all satellite, cable and streaming TV services. Pittsburgh’s game at Virginia precedes the Duke-UNC game on ESPN.

BETTING ODDS

Duke opened as a four-point favorite Friday night and the line is now at 3.5, according Vegas Insider.

This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 10:00 AM.

Steve Wiseman
The News & Observer
Steve Wiseman was named Raleigh News & Observer and Durham Herald-Sun sports editor in May 2025. He covered Duke athletics, beginning in 2010, prior to his current assignment. In the Associated Press Sports Editors national contest, he placed in the top 10 in beat writing in 2019, 2021 and 2022, breaking news in 2019, event coverage in 2025 and explanatory writing in 2018. Before coming to Durham in 2010, Steve worked for The State (Columbia, SC), Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.), The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), Charlotte Observer and Hickory (NC) Daily Record covering beats including the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints, University of South Carolina athletics and the S.C. General Assembly. He’s won numerous state-level press association awards. Steve graduated from Illinois State University in 1989. 
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