The Duke basketball team (18-2, 10-0 ACC) will be at full strength when the program hosts the reeling UNC basketball squad (13-9, 6-4 ACC) for the first of this season’s two scheduled rivalry bouts, tipping off in Cameron Indoor Stadium at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPN).

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Just before noon on Saturday, the No. 2-ranked Blue Devils, winners of a nation-leading 14 straight games, announced that forward Maliq Brown will be available to play for the first time since sustaining a right knee injury in Duke’s home win over Notre Dame on Jan. 11.

Brown, a 6-foot-9, 222-pound junior in his first year at Duke after transferring from Syracuse, is averaging only 2.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists across his 15 outings this season. However, the reigning ACC All-Defensive Team selection leads Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils with his 3.3 steals per 40 minutes on the court.

“It’s not just the defense,” Scheyer recently said about Maliq Brown’s impact as a spark off the bench. “It’s also the creating some disruption on defense, which can lead to easy baskets.”

Meanwhile, UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis and his Tar Heels, who already have more losses than the program’s entire 2023-24 campaign, desperately need to pull off the upset by notching their third straight victory in the series.

ALSO READ: Tar Heel Season Stat Leaders Entering Rivalry Clash Against Blue Devils

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