Wooden Award candidate Jahlil Okafor and the Duke Blue Devils look to protect their home court at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina on Wednesday night against the North Carolina Tar Heels for college basketball’s fiercest rivalry.
It’s arguably the hottest ticket in college basketball in recent memory with the minimum asking price north of $1,000 for the majority of the past few months. There have always been just a handful of tickets available on the secondary market, but they are clearly being valued at a very high rate.
However, according to Hipmunk.com, hotels in Durham cost just $54, a small fraction of what it would take to buy a ticket. There are in fact several options below $100 per night, with the Millennium Hotel in Durham being one of them. Currently, there are rooms available for as little as $67 for Wednesday night.
Okafor leads the Blue Devils in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage, with both his scoring average of 18.2 points and his shooting percentage of 66.5 percent tops in the ACC. No freshman has ever led a Duke team in all three categories. Okafor has scored in double figures in all 25 games of his college career. He’s posted nine double-doubles and reached the 20-point mark 10 times.
Aside from having the talent to execute an array of low post moves, Okafor is a willing passer to defeat double teams. The Tar Heels will counter with the combination of Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson. North Carolina is the ACC’s best team on the glass, averaging 42.3 rebounds and leading the conference in both offensive (15.0) and defensive (27.3) rebounds.
Duke has been playing good basketball as of late, having won five straight including wins at Virginia and home against Notre Dame. The Tar Heels on the other hand are limping into Cameron Indoor Stadium losing three of their last four games.
Marcus Paige is going to have to put in a special performance for the Tar Heels to steal a victory on the road. The aforementioned big men of the Tar Heels will have their toughest task to date in handling Okafor on his home court.
Fans from anywhere can enjoy the best college basketball rivalry the sport has to offer. In their last 87 meetings, North Carolina has won 44, Duke has won 43 and the total point differential has been six points.
