UNC Basketball: 11 Historical Games and Moments against Duke
March 8th, 1969: #4 UNC 85, Duke 74: Vic Bubas turned Duke into a national powerhouse in the 1960s going to 3 Final Four in 4 years with stars Heyman, Jeff Mullins and Bob Verga while Carolina struggled in the first few years under Dean Smith – who lost 10 of his first 12 games to Duke including the first 7.
However using the same recruiting tactics as Bubas, Smith began turn the program around with stars like Larry Miller and Bob Lewis and by the end of the 60s Carolina had replaced Duke as the dominant program in the conference thanks to back to back trips to the Final Four and back to back ACC Tournament titles. They also had the first African-Amercian superstar in ACC history Charlie Scott who played maybe his greatest game as a Tar Heel in the 1969 ACC Tournament final.
The Tar Heels trailed by 9 points at halftime and 11 points early in the second half when took the game over scoring 28 second half points and 40 points for the game winning tournament MVP honors with the greatest indivdual performance the rivalry had ever seen. The game would be the last for Vic Bubas as Duke head coach, surprising many he retired at the age of 41 to become vice president at the school. The Heels would reach their third straight Final Four.