Duke Basketball Coach Recalls One Turning Point in Rivalry Against UNC

The mid-1990s wasn't much fun for Duke basketball versus UNC until Chris Carrawell's first starting nod as a Blue Devil.

Photo credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

As Duke basketball prepares to welcome archrival UNC to Cameron Indoor Stadium at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPN), Wednesday night's Fast Break with Jon Scheyer broadcasted from Coach K Court. And Scheyer wasn't the only guest to field questions from host David Shumate and the collection of Cameron Crazies on hand.

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While Scheyer was proving to the Crazies off camera that he's still got the touch beyond the arc that he routinely displayed in Durham from 2006 to 2010, Shumate asked sixth-year Blue Devil assistant coach and former four-year Duke forward (1996-00) Chris Carrawell to reflect on his time as a participant in the game's greatest rivalry.

His first meeting with the Tar Heels — Jan. 29, 1997, a date easily remembered here at Blue Devil Country on SI.com, as it was the first Duke-UNC game this writer attended and legendary UNC head coach Dean Smith's last trip to Cameron — provides a fitting beginning to his story.

As the 6-foot-6 Carrawell explained, the 80-73 home win that night was a turning point, stopping the darker-blue bleeding in the series:

"Going back for me as a player, my freshman year, my first start ever was against Carolina here. And I was the center jumping the ball. And the Cameron Crazies, I just remember looking over, and they were really going crazy.

"We had lost to them previously seven times. We broke the losing streak.

"And then my senior year, Senior Night was against Carolina, and we know how that ended. We ended with another victory.

"So, those two moments right there, to start my career, first start as a freshman, and then to end my career in Cameron against Carolina, were two of my favorite memories."

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Carrawell finished with a 7-3 record versus the Tar Heels, including victories in each of his last five battles and a 4-0 mark in Durham. After he graduated, the Blue Devils won 10 of the next 12 against UNC, capping off what remains Duke's all-time most successful stretch in the rivalry at 15-2 from 1999 through the first matchup of 2005.

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