BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A half-century-old rivalry between two of the biggest brand names in college sports -- Duke and North Carolina -- will have its highest-stakes game ever in the NCAA women's basketball Sweet 16 on Friday.
Friday's matchup in the Birmingham Regional 2 semifinals (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) will be the first between the two powers in an NCAA tournament game.
"Really great for the sport," Tar Heels coach Courtney Banghart said.
"We haven't really talked about that with our team in terms of a first [NCAA] meeting or anything. I didn't know that until you said that," Duke coach Kara Lawson said. "We're fighting for a spot in the Elite Eight, and so whoever the opponent is, is the opponent."
How Lawson had missed knowing that Duke and UNC had never played at this stage before -- it was a much-discussed topic on Selection Sunday -- speaks to how she has operated her program since taking over in 2020.
Lawson usually avoids talking about anything "big picture," even if that picture is just about the 10-mile stretch of road between Durham and Chapel Hill that separates the two schools, and the lengthy history between the programs.
The teams first met during the 1975-76 season, with the Tar Heels having a slight 56-54 edge in the series.
Banghart, by contrast, has embraced what it means for all three programs in the Triangle region -- NC State is playing in the Spokane Regional Sweet 16 against LSU -- to be good simultaneously because it brings so much attention to women's basketball and the ACC.
"I celebrate along with all the sports fans that have been watching so many Duke-Carolina battles throughout the years," Banghart said. "We did it. We got you guys an NCAA tournament game between Carolina-Duke. I mean, if that doesn't get your blood going, you should check it."
Lawson took over at Duke in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Four games into the 2020-21 season, Duke canceled the rest of its games because of COVID-19 concerns. The Blue Devils missed the NCAA tournament in 2022 but have made it the past three years and are in their second consecutive regional semifinal.
Duke has been to the women's Final Four four times -- all under former coach Gail Goestenkors, with the most recent in 2006.
North Carolina won the national championship in 1994 and reached the Final Four in 2006 and 2007 under Sylvia Hatchell, who coached the Tar Heels from 1986 to 2019, when Banghart took over. UNC has made the NCAA tournament the past five seasons, including the Sweet 16 in 2022.
Until this year, Duke and UNC had never been in the same NCAA tournament region. Now, they meet for the third time this season after splitting their regular-season games. The Tar Heels won 53-46 in overtime at home on Jan. 9; Duke won 68-53 at home Feb. 27.
"It feels like it's a really big deal for the guys that we're playing them three times," Lawson said. "It's not something we've really talked about or worried about."
As the previous scores suggest, this should be a defensive battle. The teams are very similar: Duke averages 73.8 points and gives up 57.1, while North Carolina averages 70.5 and gives up 57.6.
Tar Heels starters Alyssa Ustby and Reniya Kelly were both injured and sat out the second meeting against Duke. Both are back for Friday's game, as is Duke freshman and leading scorer Toby Fournier, who was out sick for the Blue Devils' second-round victory over Oregon.
"The basketball you're going to see will be very gritty, maybe a little bit sloppy," Ustby, a fifth-year senior, said of the familiarity between the programs. "It's hard to predict games like that. The teams know each other way too well.
"But we remind each other on court not to worry about those little feisty interactions and stuff. We know they're going to happen, especially at this stage with an Elite Eight on the line. That's much bigger stakes than a regular-season game. We just have to make sure we keep each other cool."