It‘s almost time for the North Carolina vs Duke live stream, and it features two programs that are about to make their 38th combined Final Four appearance. But this one, as the kids say, 'just hits different.' That's to be expected when these two Tobacco Road rivals meet for the first time in tournament history.
The big headline: Coach K is set to retire at the end of this year after 42 seasons with the Blue Devils, and he wants to go out on a high note. But UNC is not about to back down. Yes, the stage is set for an epic March Madness live stream.
Date: North Carolina vs Duke live stream takes place today Saturday, April 2
Time: 8.49 p.m. ET / 5.49 p.m. PT / 1.49 a.m. BST
Channel: TBS
• Watch in the U.S. on Sling TV and Paramount Plus
• Watch in the U.K. on BT Sport
• Watch in Australia on Kayo Sport
• Watch anywhere — try ExpressVPN 100% risk free
North Carolina (28-9), the East Region's eighth seed, is fresh off playing spoiler against this tournament's Cinderella team in 15-seed St. Peter's. The Tar Heels ended the Peacocks' run by handing them a 69-49 defeat last week. Junior big-man Armando Bacot had a monster game, scoring 20 points while pulling down 22 rebounds.
Of course, the Peacocks' run isn't the only party the Tar Heels spoiled this year. Just three weeks ago they were a dark cloud over Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski's last game at Cameron Indoor. UNC beat Duke in that matchup 94-81.
Duke (32-6) ended the regular season as the ninth ranked team in the AP poll and earned a two-seed in the West Region. Despite dropping their second game against North Carolina on March 5, the Blue Devils dismantled the Tar Heels in their first meeting of the season with a 87-67 blowout back in February. Freshman forward A.J. Griffin dropped 27 points on UNC in the win.
Griffin is coming off a team-high 18-point performance in the regional championship game, while Duke's other standout Paolo Banchero scored 16 points and recorded 7 rebounds.
Duke is currently a 4-point favorite against North Carolina. The over/under is 151. Duke and North Carolina have played each other a total of 257 times over the years. The Tar Heels have the historic edge, as they are 142-115 all-time against the Blue Devils.
How to watch North Carolina vs Duke live streams online from anywhere on Earth
Hoops fans, if for some reason you've had to leave your own "bubble" — or you can't get truTV where you are for some strange reason — and you can't watch North Carolina vs Duke, you're not out of luck. With a virtual private network, or VPN, you can appear to be surfing the web from your home town (or somewhere that blackouts won't hit), and access the same streaming services you already paid for.
Not sure which VPN is right for you? We've tested many different services and our pick for the best VPN overall is ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN offers superb speeds and excellent customer service, and there's even a 30-day money-back guarantee if you're not happy with it.
How to watch North Carolina vs Duke live streams in the US
In the U.S., March Madness is on four networks: CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.
North Carolina vs Duke is on TBS — but the final games will only be on CBS and TBS. You can follow all of those channels with Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV, but they're not on our list of the best streaming services. And they cost a lot, at $70 and $65, respectively.
The much more affordable Sling TV Blue ($35 per month) has TBS, TNT and truTV. And then if you add-in Paramount Plus Premium ($9.99 per month) you get CBS there. It all totals to $45 per month, $20 to $25 less than going with one of the other options.
How to watch North Carolina vs Duke in the UK
Basketball fans across the pond can follow the tournament live on BT Sport, where ESPNHD will feature the games.
North Carolina vs Duke has a late tip-off of (epic yawn) 1.49 a.m. BST.
Prices differ hugely depending on whether you already have BT TV and a BT broadband subscription. If you have both, you can add the Sports package for £15/month plus a £20 upfront fee, or go for the £40/month Big Sports package which also includes all of the Sky Sports channels, giving you a bunch of other sports on top of March Madness.
Another option for non-BT subscribers is the BT Sport Monthly Pass (£25), which lets you watch via an app for a fixed time and doesn't require a lengthy subscription.
All sounds great, right? But if you're not in the U.K., you can still follow the March Madness live streams on a service such as ExpressVPN.
How to watch North Carolina vs Duke live streams in Canada
We can't tell how many of the March Madness games will be airing on TSN, TSN2 or TSN3 but they will have some NCAA games.
The North Carolina vs Duke live stream will be carried by TSN 3.
Completists without a way to watch the games, though, should — like those in the UK — take a VPN service such as ExpressVPN for a spin.
How to watch North Carolina vs Duke live streams in Australia
It appears that (as was the case in previous years) Kayo Sports is your best bet for Aussie streaming services serving up March Madness live streams. But it's not clear if North Carolina vs Duke will be on Kayo.
Kayo offers a 14-day free trial for both its Basic and Premium plans, more than enough time to confirm they're actually showing the games. The Basic package costs $25 per month thereafter.
The $35 per month Premium Kayo plan gives you all the same things as the normal plan, but it offers three simultaneous streams. The Basic plan gives you two streams at the same time.
If Kayo doesn't have this game, though, we recommend trying out ExpressVPN.
