As mentioned in today’s Morning Five, the ACC Office reported the combined score of Duke and North Carolina‘s last 75 games to be 5,858-5,857 with Duke holding the slim lead. This is false. Apparently the office missed a game somewhere because the actual statistic is Duke leading 5,867-5,834. To be clear, the stat is still insane. North Carolina still holds the overall lead at 38-37.
UNC Holds a Slight Edge Against Duke Over the Past 75 Games (Getty Images/P. Williams)
Taking the statistic back to it’s logical conclusion (the beginning of the calendar year of 1980), the two rivals have played 78 games. North Carolina won 40; Duke won 38. The cumulative score is still owned by the Blue Devils with a five-point advantage.
In the end the reported statistic was wrong, but the rivalry has been incredibly competitive over the last three decades. Oh, and the two teams only finished out of the AP Top 25 eleven years combined (five years for North Carolina and six years for Duke). Of those years Duke finished in the top five according to AP voters 12 times, and North Carolina finished in the top five 14 times. That’s pretty unbelievable.