Freshman Kon Knueppel scored 17 points to help No. 2 Duke beat rival North Carolina 82-69 on Saturday night and clinch the outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

Cooper Flagg added 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists despite first-half foul trouble for the Blue Devils (28-3, 19-1).

Duke blew a 15-point first-half lead and trailed by seven midway early after the break, but responded with 12 consecutive points to turn the game and silence a roaring hostile crowd.

The Blue Devils are now in position to rise to No. 1 in Monday’s AP Top 25 poll with top-ranked Auburn losing its last two games.

Fifth-year senior RJ Davis scored 20 points in his final home game for Tar Heels (20-12), who were blown out in the first meeting but responded with far more resilience this time before Duke asserted control to stretch out the lead in the final seven minutes.

Duke, a clear Final Four favorite, completed the first 19-1 regular-season slate since the ACC moved to 20 games in 2019-20.

The Tar Heels had won six straight coming in with their best play of the season to play their way back into better positioning for an NCAA bid.

But this was their last certain chance to add a resume-topping win to help that case.

The ACC Tournament starts Tuesday in Charlotte.

Duke opens play as the No. 1 seed in Thursday’s quarterfinals. UNC is the No. 5 seed and will play in Wednesday’s second round.

Duke women end drought: Oluchi Okananwa had 22 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 11 Duke rally from a 14-point deficit to beat No. 7 N.C. State 76-62 on Sunday for the ACC women’s tournament title.

The win in Greensboro secured the Blue Devils’ first ACC title in a dozen years and their first under coach Kara Lawson.

Okananwa, who came off the bench to match her career high for scoring, was the voted the tournament’s MVP for third-seeded Duke (26-7), which took over after halftime against the tournament’s top seed and regular-season co-champion Wolfpack (26-6).

Ashlon Jackson also scored 22 for Duke.

Aziaha James scored 18 points for N.C. State, which scored the game’s first seven points and took its largest lead at 24-10 on her 3-pointer early in the second quarter.

FSU stays in the family: Luke Loucks is returning to Florida State to take over as the coach of the Seminoles.

Florida State announced the hire on Sunday. The 34-year-old Loucks is replacing Leonard Hamilton, who’s stepping down at the end of this season.

A Clearwater, Florida native, Loucks played for the Seminoles from 2008-12.

He averaged 7.1 points and 3.3 rebounds as a senior and was part of a team that defeated Miami, Duke and North Carolina on consecutive days to win the ACC Tournament title in March 2012.

Loucks had been an assistant coach for the NBA’s Kings since 2022. He also has worked for the Warriors, helping the team win NBA titles in 2017 and 2018, and Suns.