DURHAM — No. 6 North Carolina defeated No. 4 Duke 88-70 on Saturday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The victory gives the Tar Heels their 19th outright ACC regular-season championship, and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ACC tournament.

A look back at the Heels’ dominant victory:

CHAPEL HILL — Welcome to game day. No. 6 North Carolina tonight travels to No. 4 Duke for a regular season finale that will decide the ACC regular season champion. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils have met six times before to decide the regular season league championship. UNC is 4-2 in those games.

Before looking at some things to watch, be sure to check out the array of content we have posted online. For your reading pleasure …

-Jack Daly’s story putting into perspective what is at stake on senior night tonight in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
-My story about how the Tar Heels recovered from that devastating loss against Duke last month.
-A story with some memories of the rivalry from Dick Vitale, who will be calling his 41st UNC-Duke game tonight.
-Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer looks at five memorable rallies in the series.
-And who has the edge tonight? A breakdown that’s not likely to provide Kendall Marshall with added motivation.

Now onto the three keys for UNC:

It’s no secret that North Carolina and Duke are vastly different offensive teams. The Tar Heels want to work the ball inside, where they feel they have an advantage with post players Tyler Zeller and John Henson.

The Blue Devils, meanwhile, want to shoot a lot of 3-pointers – a team strength given they have many quality shooters. The difference between the Heels and Devils manifested itself in a large way during Duke’s 85-84 victory against UNC at the Smith Center on Feb. 8.

During that game, Duke attempted 36 3-pointers, and made 14 of them. UNC, meanwhile, was just 1-for-6 from beyond the 3-point line. So the Blue Devils outscored the Tar Heels 42-3 on 3-pointers – an enormous differential that was the primary reason Duke remained alive in a game that UNC mostly dominated for 38 minutes.

UNC coach Roy Williams earlier today described the challenges of defending Duke’s perimeter offense. Williams charted each of Duke’s 36 3-point attempts during the first meeting between the teams. Here are his comments in full:

CHAPEL HILL — Plenty of North Carolina fans disagreed with the notion that Tar Heels supporters should have pulled for Duke last night when the Blue Devils played at Florida State. In fact, I heard from a lot of UNC fans who thought it silly – or worse – to cheer for Duke when I raised the topic yesterday.

Tar Heels senior forward Tyler Zeller, though, didn’t think pulling for Duke was so wrong. At least not last night. He watched with a sense of happiness last night while the Blue Devils went on to a 74-66 victory against the Seminoles in Tallahassee.

CHAPEL HILL — About 12 hours after one of the wildest finishes in the history of the Duke-North Carolina rivalry left the Blue Devils with an 85-84 victory, some thoughts from a UNC perspective …

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Roy Williams, following his team’s 85-84 loss against Duke on Wednesday night: 

CHAPEL HILL — Down by as many as 13 during the second half, No. 10 Duke rallied for an 85-84 victory against No. 5 North Carolina. A look back at how UNC let a 10-point lead slip away in the final 2 minutes and 38 seconds:

Updated 12.25 a.m.

CHAPEL HILL — There have been some wild, crazy endings to North Carolina-Duke games over the 233-game history of the rivalry, and the one that happened here on Wednesday night at the Smith Center will take its place as one of the craziest and most memorable of all – if not the most.

The Tar Heels’ sophomore Harrison Barnes gave his team an 82-72 lead with 2:38 to play, and the game appeared over. Writers on press row went back to the media room to write their stories, most of those in attendance waited for the minutes to melt away, and even the Tar Heels appeared content to hold on and escape.

But it wasn’t over.

After a furious rally that placed the result in doubt, Duke’s Austin Rivers made a long 3 from the right side as the final buzzer sounded. The shot gave the Blue Devils an improbable 85-84 victory, and they spilled from their bench and onto the court as people here – fans, UNC’s players and staff, mostly everybody – stood in a stunned stupor.

CHAPEL HILL — It’s that time of year again. No. 5 North Carolina hosts No. 10 Duke tonight at the Smith Center (9 p.m., ESPN and WRAL). Some things to watch as these old rivals meet for the 233rd time:

If you read The News & Observer this morning, you might have noticed a short Q-and-A with Andy Bagwell, who recently co-authored a book called, simply, “Duke Sucks.” The book’s title makes it easy enough to figure out what it’s about.

A sample chapter title: “Duke students are a bunch of wealthy, elitist punks who you probably wouldn’t want to get stuck talking to at a polo match.”

A sample photo caption: (Below a picture of Cameron Indoor Stadium) “Cameron originally cost $400,000 to build – lunch money for current students.”

Bagwell, a 1992 graduate of The University of North Carolina, wrote the book along with Reed Tucker, a 1995 graduate of UNC. Bagwell admitted that both are biased, and said he hopes that no Duke fan decides to hurl an egg in his direction. Perhaps, then, it’s unwise to share that Bagwell will be in The Pit on the UNC campus at noon on Wednesday for a book signing.

And, oh yes, Wednesday is also when the Tar Heels will happen to host the Blue Devils at 9 p.m. in the Smith Center. In anticipation of another Duke-UNC meeting, here’s an extended Q-and-A with a man who helped write the book – or at least a book – on hating Duke: