After an 88-64 victory against Maryland on Wednesday, UNC’s rematch against Duke at Cameron Indoor on Saturday will determine the ACC regular season title before the postseason picks up Thursday with the ACC tournament.

There are immense sports rivalries, just like great wars, that extend across state lines, regions and sometimes even countries. And then there are civil wars — brother against brother, friend against friend.

In the latest basketball matchup with N.C. State University, UNC students chanted “not our rival” — but many don’t realize that sentiment is a relatively new development.

Sometime during tonight’s epic Duke-Carolina match-up, while Butter is busy carving up the Blue Devils defense and John Henson has smacked another of the 16 Plumlee brothers’ weak shots back to Durham, you will turn to whomever you’re watching the game with, exchange drunken high fives and know true contentedness.

Graduating chemistry Ph.D. students were among the many who were disappointed when they didn’t win the ticket lottery.

While UNC students prepare for the mile-and-a-half run to Franklin Street after Wednesday night’s Duke basketball game, the Chapel Hill Police Department is also gearing up for the night’s festivities.

More than 50 emails from angry seniors demanding to know why they didn’t get tickets through the UNC-Duke basketball lottery flooded the Athletic Ticket Office inbox Thursday.

Due to a technical glitch with the online ticket lottery notification system, all students who entered the lottery, including those who won tickets, received an email saying they would not receive tickets, said Caitlin Goforth, president of the Carolina Athletic Association.

Last year, there was no clear winner in Jose Hernandez and Henrique Cunha’s rivalry. The North Carolina and Duke juniors, their respective teams’ top players, played three times in 2011. Hernandez won once and lost once, and the final match went unfinished. Each player’s record against the other was 1-1-1.

The North Carolina men’s tennis team saw its first action of the spring season when it competed in the Duke Invitational tournament this weekend.

Win or die. That’s how North Carolina senior Thomas Ferguson characterized the UNC wrestling team’s mindset before its meet against Duke on Monday night at Carmichael Arena.

In a match that lasted 110 minutes — complete with double–overtime drama and enough hard hits to satisfy the football team — both North Carolina and Duke were left gasping for air by the final whistle. The No. 5 Tar Heels faced a determined Duke squad Friday night in front of a record-breaking crowd at Fetzer Field, and it took everything they had to come out with a 2-2 tie.

It took almost the entire 90 minutes of regulation, but emotion finally got the best of someone Friday night in North Carolina’s 2-2 tie with Duke. Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, that someone was freshman defender Jordan McCrary.

Playing in front of a home crowd is usually advantageous to a team, especially in a big rivalry match. But against Duke, the No. 8 North Carolina men’s lacrosse team can’t seem to shake the home field hex.

UNC sputtered at the beginning of its first two games but staged big comebacks to advance to the ACC Tournament championship game. Against Duke and ACC Player of the Year Nolan Smith though, the Tar Heels could not conjure another second-half thriller.

After falling to No. 5 Duke 75-58, the Tar Heels head to the NCAA tournament a No. 2 seed. They face Long Island in Charlotte on Friday for a chance to advance to the NCAA title.

Per tradition, the ACC regular season champions cut down the nets after clinching the title. And as the freshman point guard climbed down the ladder and back to the court littered with fans, Kendall Marshall walked toward Harrison Barnes and handed him the scissors.

The North Carolina youngsters showed they learned from the first Duke game in UNC’s 81-67 win against Duke, after all. For that lesson, the players got quite a nifty title – outright regular season ACC champions.

The North Carolina men’s basketball team leads rival Duke 51-39 at halftime at the Smith Center. The winner of the game will own the ACC regular season championship.

For everything that folks wished Harrison Barnes was when the season began, he’s a finisher. It’s not something a lot of players can say.