The Duke Blue Devils have been one of the most impressive teams in college basketball this season and they proved exactly why on Saturday night, as they defeated their top rival North Carolina 69-53 in the final regular-season game of the season for both teams.

Duke used a fantastic performance from Seth Curry and a solid showing from Mason Plumlee to take down Roy Williams and North Carolina. Curry had 20 points in the game, while Plumlee added another double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds. The Blue Devils improved to 27-4 on the season and 14-4 in the ACC, likely securing themselves a number one seed in the NCAA tournament.

"You want to be playing at your best going into the tournament and you can't afford a loss at this point in the season where you're questioning your lineups and what your identity is," Plumlee said to the Associated Press. "It was the kind of win we needed going into tournament time."

Duke was dominant over the Tar Heels early on, scoring the first 14 points in the game and keeping North Carolina away from the basket for most of the first half. The team cut it to nine points, but they never got closer than that, as they dropped to 22-9 on the season and 12-6 in the conference. Duke was up 25 at halftime and shot over 50 percent for the game, including hitting nearly 70 percent in the first half.

The two teams could face off again in the ACC Tournament, which is more important for the Tar Heels, as Duke should be able to have a number one seed with a solid showing next week. Curry helped the Blue Devils make over 33 percent of their shots from 3-point range and at one point he hit seven shots in a row.

"Guys set screens for me and I was able to create some space to get shots off, keep the defense off balance, and I was feeling good to start the game," Curry said. "I wanted to come in and set the tone for my team that we could win in this environment."

Coach Mike Krzyzewski has done an effective job of bringing back Ryan Kelly into the lineup, as he has missed a large part of the season with an injury. The senior night game was a disappointment for North Carolina, who got 15 points from James McAdoo, but the team shot just 34 percent from the field.

The Tar Heels have been playing well since last matching up with Duke, going 6-1 over that span, but the team will need to rebound quickly before the conference tournament next week. Duke has clinched the number two seed for the tournament with Miami being number one as the regular-season champions, while the Tar Heels will be a number three seed.

North Carolina could never get comfortable on the court and missed 11 shots from 3-point range before making one, which was their only shot from long-range all night against Duke.