Tobacco Road by the numbers: How many games? How many farms? How many big match-ups?

Andrew Carter
·2 min read

Saturday’s matchup between Duke and North Carolina is the latest in what has long been the greatest rivalry in college basketball and one of the greatest in American sport.

It’s a rivalry that has helped define Tobacco Road.

It’s the 49th time with both Duke and UNC ranked among the top 10 when playing each other.

That’s one of many numbers that help tell the story of Tobacco Road.

Here are others, in no particular order:

▪ 87,876 — tobacco farms in North Carolina in 1964, according to Matthew Vann, a tobacco researcher at N.C. State University, citing the ‘64 USDA Census of Agriculture.

▪ 1,507 — men’s basketball games, all time, among the Tobacco Road Big Four of Duke, N.C. State, North Carolina and Wake Forest.

NC State coach Jim Valvano leaps off the floor during the Wolfpack’s 85-76 victory over the rival Tar Heels of North Carolina on Feb. 17, 1985.
NC State coach Jim Valvano leaps off the floor during the Wolfpack’s 85-76 victory over the rival Tar Heels of North Carolina on Feb. 17, 1985.

▪ 1,294 — tobacco farms in North Carolina in 2017, according to the most recently available data from the agricultural census.

▪ 200 — number of Big Four games in which both teams have been ranked among the Top 25.

▪ 85 — times those Top 25 games have been between Duke and UNC.

Duke guard Austin Rivers is mobbed by teammates after hitting a three pointer as time expired to beat UNC, 85-84, on Feb. 8, 2012.
Duke guard Austin Rivers is mobbed by teammates after hitting a three pointer as time expired to beat UNC, 85-84, on Feb. 8, 2012.

▪ 48 — times, before Saturday, that Duke and UNC have met as Top 10 teams. That’s by far the most games between any two teams ranked in the Top 10 when playing each other.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski celebrates with senior guard Steve Wojciechowski, who had 11 assists, three steals, and one turnover in the Blue Devils’ comeback against North Carolina in 1998.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski celebrates with senior guard Steve Wojciechowski, who had 11 assists, three steals, and one turnover in the Blue Devils’ comeback against North Carolina in 1998.

▪ 14 — times UNC and N.C. State have met as Top 10 teams (with the Wolfpack 9-5 in those games). That’s the second-most Top 10 games between any two opponents, even still, despite the most recent such match-up coming in 1975.

Phil Ford celebrates the Tar Heels’ win over N.C. State in the championship game of the 1975 ACC Tournament.
Phil Ford celebrates the Tar Heels’ win over N.C. State in the championship game of the 1975 ACC Tournament.

▪ 24 — victories, for both UNC and Duke, in the 48 games they’ve met as Top 10 teams. That’s right: they’re 24-24 against each other in those match-ups.

▪ 406 — tobacco farms along Tobacco Road — in Durham, Orange and Wake counties — in 1997, according to Vann, the N.C. State tobacco researcher.

▪ 54 — tobacco farms in those three counties as of 2017, including four in Durham County.

▪ 8 — number of actual roads named Tobacco Road in North Carolina.

A farmworker, his hands sticky with tobacco gum, carries a batch of just-picked leaves to a trailer in a during an early morning harvest.
A farmworker, his hands sticky with tobacco gum, carries a batch of just-picked leaves to a trailer in a during an early morning harvest.

SOURCES: Matthew Vann, N.C. State assistant professor and tobacco researcher; USDA Census of Agriculture; www.sports-reference.com/cbb/; N.C. Department of Transportation.