Duke-UNC Rivalry Runs Deep, But Respect Remains

The Duke–North Carolina rivalry is widely regarded as one of the most heated rivalries in all of sports. Players and students who attend Duke are expected to hate North Carolina — and vice versa.

Few players embody that rivalry more than Tyler Hansbrough, who is widely considered one of the greatest Tar Heels of all time. His trophy case at North Carolina is among the most impressive in program history: a three-time First Team All-American, the 2007–08 AP Player of the Year, the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,872 points, and a national champion.

Duke fans remember Hansbrough all too well. In the eight games he played against the Blue Devils, Hansbrough posted a 6–2 record, highlighted by his infamous “bloody face” game in which he scored 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting and grabbed 17 rebounds.

Recently, Hansbrough appeared on the Field of 68 podcast, where he discussed the Duke–North Carolina matchup and offered high praise for Duke head coach Jon Scheyer.

Hansbrough Speaks on Scheyer

“As a head coach, he’s done a great job,” Hansbrough said. “Arguably, he’s done the best job as far as getting top-tier young talent and making the most out of it — and doing it multiple years in a row, which is very difficult. You’ve got to give him a lot of credit. Following Coach K is not an easy task, and we really haven’t seen much of a drop-off.”

Hansbrough even admitted that his perception of Scheyer has changed over time.

Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer yells in the first half as his team fell behind by 10 points in the first half. The Duke Blue Devils rallied from being down nine points at the half to beat Louisville 84-73 Tuesday night at KFC Yum Center January 6, 2026. | Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Believe it or not, I like Scheyer,” Hansbrough said. “I’ve said this before — my knock on him was that he seemed a little too nice of a guy. You go from Coach K, who was kind of this Darth Vader-type character, to Jon Scheyer. It didn’t really make sense at first, but he’s done a great job.”

Hansbrough faced Scheyer six times during their playing careers, when Scheyer played under former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Hansbrough went 5–1 in those matchups, but that record hasn’t stopped him from giving Scheyer credit as a player.

“The first thing I think of when you talk about Jon Scheyer as a player is that he was an absolute knockdown three-point shooter,” Hansbrough said. “You could not leave him open — it was always on the scouting report.”

Hansbrough also noted that Scheyer’s size and competitiveness made him tougher to guard than he appeared.

“He’s a little taller than he looks when you play against him, so he can get that shot off pretty well,” Hansbrough said. “He was very competitive, kind of a grimy player — willing to mix it up a little bit. He wasn’t an inside guy banging with the big dogs, but he competed.”

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