Las Vegas lists UNC-Duke Final Four point spread at halftime of UNC vs. St. Peter’s

No. 10-seeded UNC has not yet defeated No. 15-seeded Saint Peters, but Las Vegas seems certain that the Tar Heels will get the job done — so much so, that some oddsmakers, including FanDuel, have already released the point spread for an impending Duke-UNC Final Four showdown.

Per FanDuel, the Duke Blue Devils will be 4.5-point favorites in the contest against in-state rivals at UNC, despite the fact that the Tar Heels have not yet defeated Saint Peters. At the moment, though, all signs point to Hubert Davis getting the job done in just his first season at the helm of the program, as UNC leads 38-19 at halftime of its Elite Eight matchup. The Tar Heels are currently being paced by excellent first-half efforts from Caleb Love and Brady Manek, as Love as 12 points and Manek has 10, while Armando Bacot has dominated the glass, scoring eight points along with 15 first-half rebounds.

Duke and UNC split their two matchups this season. The Blue Devils, then ranked No. 9 in the country, defeated UNC, 87-67, in Chapel Hill on Feb. 5. But the story couldn’t have been more different on March 5, during Coach K’s final home game at Cameron Indoor, as the UNC Tar Heels spoiled the party and upset No. 4 Duke, 94-81.

The potential Final Four matchup will the first time that Duke and UNC will ever face in the Final Four, of course — but more notably, it’s also the first time that the two rivals face in the NCAA Tournament in any capacity. The closest the two sides came to playing in March Madness was in 1991, when Duke and UNC both made the NCAA Tournament Final Four as No. 1 seeds. However, they never faced one another, as they were on different sides of the bracket — though Duke defeated UNLV to move onto the finals, UNC lost to Kansas, squandering the opportunity.

The 2022 Final Four will be Coach K’s last as head coach, as the legendary head coach of 42 years makes his retirement tour in epic fashion. Conversely, it will be Davis’ first Final Four as UNC’s head coach, and it came in just his first season, as he took over for Roy Williams this season.