Who has won more Duke or UNC?

We are just days away from one of the most anticipated Final Four games in recent NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament history.

After Kansas and Villanova battle on Saturday, one of sports’ biggest rivalries will take center stage at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans as Duke and North Carolina play each other for the first time ever in March Madness.

RELATED: How to watch the Final Four of the Men’s NCAA Tournament

The Blue Devils entered the Big Dance as a No. 2 seed and have reeled off victories over No. 15 Cal State Fullerton, No. 7 Michigan State, No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 4 Arkansas to reach their first Final Four since they won it all in 2015. Duke is trying to help legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski ride off into the sunset as a champion.

Meanwhile, the Tar Heels are by far the biggest surprise among the teams still alive in the tourney. As a No. 8 seed, UNC crushed No. 9 Marquette in the opening round before stunning No. 1 Baylor to reach the Sweet 16. The Tar Heels then outlasted No. 4 UCLA and ended No. 15 Saint Peter’s Cinderella run in convincing fashion to clinch their first Final Four berth since they were crowned champs in 2017.

Now, the two bitter rivals will square off with a spot in the national championship game on the line. Before the highly-anticipated Duke-UNC showdown, here’s everything you need to know about their rivalry.

How far away is Duke University from the University of North Carolina?

The two schools are very close in proximity. Duke’s campus in Durham is roughly seven miles away, or about a 10-minute drive, from the University of North Carolina’s campus in Chapel Hill.

When did Duke and North Carolina first play each other?

Back on Jan. 24, 1920, UNC defeated Duke by a score of 38-25 (yes, you read that correctly) in the first ever meeting between the two programs.

Who has won more head-to-head matchups between Duke and North Carolina?

The Tar Heels and Blue Devils have met 255 more times in the 100-plus years since that first game, but never before in the NCAA Tournament. UNC holds the all-time advantage over its rivals, boasting a 141-115 record against Duke.

Who has won more national championships between Duke and North Carolina?

North Carolina owns bragging rights over Duke in several other categories, as well. The Tar Heels have six national championships compared to Duke’s five, 51 NCAA Tournament appearances to Duke’s 44, 20 Final Four appearances to Duke’s 16, 130 NCAA Tournament wins to Duke’s 118 and 50 total ACC championships to Duke’s 40. The Blue Devils do own a 21-18 edge in ACC tournament titles, though.

What is Mike Krzyzewski’s record vs. UNC?

Regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s game, Coach K will retire with a winning record against UNC. Krzyzewski is 50-47 versus the Tar Heels in his career.

Hubert Davis is in just his first season as UNC's head coach and is 1-1 against Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils.

Who won the regular-season series between Duke and UNC in 2021-22?

Duke and North Carolina split their two regular-season meetings this season, with each team securing a double-digit victory on the road.

The Blue Devils won 87-67 at Chapel Hill on Feb. 5. AJ Griffin poured in a game-high 27 points and Paolo Banchero chipped in a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead Duke’s winning effort.

Then, on March 5, the Tar Heels spoiled Coach K’s final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium with a 94-81 win. Armando Bacot, Brady Manek, R.J. Davis and Caleb Love all scored at least 20, combining for 86 of UNC's 94 points.

What are the predictions for Duke vs. UNC in the 2022 Final Four?

Duke is a 4.5-point favorite over UNC, according to our partner, PointsBet. But are the experts also siding with the Blue Devils. Here's a look at some predictions:

Editor's note: All odds are provided by our partner, PointsBet. PointsBet is our Official Sports Betting Partner and we may receive compensation if you place a bet on PointsBet for the first time after clicking our links.

College basketball’s greatest rivalry is set for its most epic meeting in the Final Four on Saturday as UNC and Duke have their first rivalry game in March Madness.

The fiercest rivalry in college basketball is set to take center stage at the Final Four on Saturday night. Duke and North Carolina are set to square off in the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever, adding an iconic chapter to the most storied rivalry in the history of college basketball.

The teams have already met twice this season, with the Blue Devils blowing out the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill before North Carolina returned the favor by spoiling Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game at Duke with a 94-81 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 5. A third meeting nearly occurred at the ACC Tournament but North Carolina was upset by Virginia Tech as the Hokies were on their way to a bid-stealing ACC title.

While this rivalry’s most epic chapter is about to be written, how does the rest of the book look in terms of the Duke-UNC rivalry?

Who leads the all-time series between Duke and UNC?

The all-time record in the rivalry is in favor of the Tar Heels, with North Carolina holding a 142-115 edge over Duke dating back to the first meeting between the programs in 1920. The vast majority of the Tar Heels’ dominance came prior to the arrival of Krzyzewski, who has compiled a 50-47 record against North Carolina since he took over in Durham back in 1980.

The rivalry has been fairly even over the past decade with the Blue Devils holding a 13-10 edge over the Tar Heels since 2013, a run that has included three meetings in the ACC Tournament. Duke has won two of those meetings but this matchup in New Orleans is uncharted territory for two of college basketball’s most accomplished programs.

Next: 30 best UNC basketball players in program history

For more NCAA basketball news, analysis, opinion and features, check out more from the FanSided college basketball section to stay on top of the latest action.

As the dust continues to settle following UNC’s epic Final Four win over Duke, college basketball fans will soon begin asking a rather poignant question: Have the Tar Heels officially one-upped the Blue Devils after winning the first NCAA tournament meeting in the storied rivalry’s history?

To some, the all-time edge already belonged to UNC, who now boasts an impressive 143–115 record over Duke. But, to others, including CBS Sports reporter Jon Rothstein, the magnitude of Saturday’s night win was enough to definitively answer the question once and for all.

“North Carolina has one upped Duke for eternity, and there is nothing that any Duke fan or anybody from Duke can do about it,” Rothstein declared following the conclusion of the Final Four.

While Rothstein’s proclamation will likely garner plenty of criticism from the Cameron Crazies, his take, at least in the heat of the moment, may not be all that far-fetched.

On top of advancing to the program’s 12th national title game, UNC had the privilege of ending Mike Krzyzewski’s legendary career a month after beating Duke in Krzyzewski’s last game at Cameron Indoor. The win also evened the rivalry’s win-loss record to 50–50 in the Coach K era.

Is that enough to give UNC bragging rights for all eternity? Well, that might depend on who you ask. But rest assured, the 2021–22 Tar Heels, led by first-year coach Hubert Davis, have earned a significant place in the “Tobacco Road” rivalry and college basketball history, given the overwhelming circumstances. 

No. 8 UNC will look to add another exclamation mark to its magical run on Monday night against No. 1 Kansas in the national title game.

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Duke and North Carolina have met 257 times in one of college basketball’s grandest rivalries, a century of hard-fought clashes that were contested during the regular season, the ACC tournament and once, 51 years ago, in the semifinals of the NIT.

But never have these blue-blooded programs met in the NCAA tournament as they will Saturday night in a national semifinal in New Orleans. They came close in 1991, when both teams made the Final Four, but they were on opposite sides of the bracket, and North Carolina fell to Kansas in a national semifinal.

North Carolina leads the series 142-115. The Tar Heels won the first game between the rivals in 1920, a 36-25 victory when Duke was still known as Trinity College, and the most recent contest, a convincing 94-81 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium on the night Mike Krzyzewski coached his final home game for the Blue Devils. Neither team has played any other opponent more often.

(Two of Duke’s losses came during the 1994-95 season, when Krzyzewski was not coaching because of back surgery.)

The Tar Heels have more Final Four appearances — a record 21 to Duke’s 17 — and have won more ACC regular season championships (32 to 20), but Duke has more ACC tournament titles (21 to 18). Together, they have won 39 of the 68 ACC tournament titles.

North Carolina has the edge in national championships with six to Duke’s five, but the schools are tied with five apiece since Krzyzewski took over in 1980. In the 41 Final Fours since 1981, including this year’s, at least one of the teams has been represented 25 times.

The longest winning streak between the schools belongs to the Tar Heels in the 1920s (16 games), twice that of Duke’s most dominant stretch. North Carolina also has the largest margin of victory, beating Duke by 37 points in 1921. The Blue Devils’ 104-69 victory over the Tar Heels in 1964 was their largest margin of victory. North Carolina has scored more points in the rivalry, 16,759 to 16,466. Over the past 100 head-to-head games, the schools’ scoring totals are almost identical: Duke has 7,859 points, and North Carolina has 7,824.

Both programs have the edge at home. Duke is 55-51 in Durham — including 46-39 at Cameron Indoor Stadium — while the Tar Heels are 64-38 in Chapel Hill (and 20-17 in Smith Center). They have had plenty of meetings on neutral courts, resulting in 27 wins for North Carolina and 22 for Duke.

A third of all games between the programs have been decided by five points or fewer. More than half have ended with a final margin of 10 points or less. The overall scoring margin between the schools is just 1.1 points per game in North Carolina’s favor. Fourteen games have required overtime; Duke is 10-4 in those games.

Duke has consistently fielded stronger teams than North Carolina over the past 26 seasons, according to analyst Ken Pomeroy’s ratings, which calculate how many net points per 100 possessions a team would score against an average squad. Duke’s Pomeroy ratings have ranged from No. 1 to No. 36 with a top-10 spot in 22 of the past 26 seasons. North Carolina has ranged from No. 1 to No. 137 with 14 appearances in the top 10.

The modern rivalry has been filled with stellar performances from star players — think of Michael Jordan’s 32 points for UNC in 1983, Hubert Davis’s 35 points for UNC in 1992, Jason Williams’s 37 points for Duke in 2002 and JJ Redick’s 35 points for Duke in 2006 — but some of the all-time scoring leaders may be less familiar to younger fans. Dick Groat had the highest scoring game for Duke in the rivalry, a 48-point performance in 1952 during a 94-64 home victory. Groat has the highest scoring average (27.3) of any Duke player against North Carolina, followed by RJ Barrett (24.7) and Jabari Parker (23.5).

Sports Reference’s college basketball player database goes back to only the 2010-11 season, and during that span Grayson Allen has scored the most points for Duke against North Carolina (158), followed by Seth Curry (111) and Quinn Cook (106). North Carolina’s leading scorers against Duke in that span are Joel Berry (116), Luke Maye (112) and Garrison Brooks (110).