Bob Sutton / Burlington Times-News

CHAPEL HILL — Just because Duke and North Carolina have staggered a bit heading into tonight’s matchup doesn’t mean the teams aren’t gearing up for another epic clash.
After all, they still rank among the country’s best. For the 146th consecutive gathering, at least one of the teams is in the national rankings.
So just because they’ve combined to go 2-5 in their last seven games leading up to this one doesn’t dampen the magnitude for a pair of teams that have spent quite a bit of time in this season’s Top 10.
“Both teams are still all right. They’re not putting us in the grave,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “Duke is still Duke.”
Duke won twice last season, including in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals. The Tar Heels had won a week earlier in the regular-season finale and, of course, won six consecutive games after the league tournament on the way to the national championship.
While the background and history often are part of the discussion, this is about as different as it comes when these teams get together.
It’s now a Duke team with an often-dominant frontcourt, led by freshmen Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter Jr.
It’s a North Carolina team that has been better-suited this season to rely on a veteran backcourt.
“They can come out with a small and a big lineup,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of the Tar Heels. “They’re just really good. They’ll be difficult to defend.”
That has been one of Duke’s problems in many of its games. And recently turnovers have also contributed to some of the Blue Devils’ shortcomings.
Yet Williams isn’t inclined to relinquish superiority in the lane to Duke. He knows often that has been where the Tar Heels must excel in order to conquer the Blue Devils.
“I always think rebounding the ball well and getting to the free-throw line is always huge in our games against Duke,” Williams said. “They’re so much stronger around the basket with their inside game this year than they have been.”
The Tar Heels have dropped three of their last four games, though they looked back in the swing in drubbing Pittsburgh, the ACC’s last-place team, on Saturday night. Earlier in the day, Duke dropped a decision at St. John’s, which is the Big East Conference’s last-place team.
“In February every year, we’re working through issues,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s just part of it. Sometimes, one game can really help you if you’re really good at some of these things and you win. That’s just part of your season.”
Duke began the season at No. 1. The current rakings for both teams — Duke at No. 9, North Carolina at No. 21 — reflect their lowest positions of the season, yet not all has been lost.
“We really improved a lot during January,” Krzyzewski said. “Look, we’ve won 19 games.”
While Williams points out this is the beginning of a stretch of three games in five days for the Tar Heels, he said recent losses by the two rivals shouldn’t dull the shine of this matchup.
“I don’t think it does to me and my team,” he said.
This annual February game is naturally a big part of any season for these teams — or at least until they meet again to close the regular season.
“Our program and their program haven’t been built on one game,” Krzyzewski said. “They have been built on championship seasons.”