Fournier leads No. 16 Duke against No. 8 North Carolina after 22-point showing

North Carolina Tar Heels (25-4, 13-3 ACC) at Duke Blue Devils (21-7, 12-4 ACC)

Durham, North Carolina; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 16 Duke faces No. 8 North Carolina after Toby Fournier scored 22 points in Duke's 80-49 victory against the Syracuse Orange.

The Blue Devils have gone 12-1 in home games. Duke is sixth in the ACC scoring 75.1 points while shooting 45.5% from the field.

The Tar Heels have gone 13-3 against ACC opponents. North Carolina has a 3-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

Duke's average of 5.9 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.5 more made shots on average than the 5.4 per game North Carolina gives up. North Carolina has shot at a 43.3% rate from the field this season, 3.6 percentage points above the 39.7% shooting opponents of Duke have averaged.

The Blue Devils and Tar Heels face off Thursday for the first time in ACC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Fournier is scoring 13.4 points per game with 5.1 rebounds and 0.3 assists for the Blue Devils. Oluchi Okananwa is averaging 12.4 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 49.0% over the last 10 games.

Alyssa Ustby is averaging 10.7 points and 9.4 rebounds for the Tar Heels. Reniya Kelly is averaging 13.2 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Devils: 7-3, averaging 72.0 points, 31.7 rebounds, 17.0 assists, 9.7 steals and 4.6 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 56.8 points per game.

Tar Heels: 9-1, averaging 70.2 points, 33.1 rebounds, 12.9 assists, 6.8 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 43.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.5 points.

------

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.