CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— For all the hype that Duke’s fabulous freshmen have received this season, this was one night when North Carolina’s 6-5 freshman guard Coby White stole the show.

White scored 21 points, took over a close 55-53 game with nine straight points on two threes and a three point play, then made a cross court pass for a slam dunk by Garrison Brooks as the third-ranked Tar Heels outscored the fourth ranked Blue Devils, 20-7, to take a 75-60 lead with 6:47 to play, then held on for a 79-70 victory on Senior night Saturday at the Dean Smith Center here.

The win gave the Tar Heels (26-5) a piece of the ACC regular season championship with Virginia. Both teams finished 16-2 in league play. The second-ranked Cavs, who defeated Carolina, 69-61, in the team’s only meeting here earlier this season, will receive the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ACC tournament at Charlotte.

It is hard to say what might have happened if Duke’s 6-8, 285-pound freshman phenom Zion Williamson, who missed his fourth straight game with a sprained knee suffered in the opening minutes of the Carolina game at Cameron; and starting center Marques Bolden, who went down with an MCL sprain   three-minutes into the game, had played.

But we may get to find out if both teams, which are seeded 2 and 3, advance to the ACC semi-finals next Friday.  Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Williamson is likely to play in the post-season tournament.

“We hope to have him back Thursday (for the quarterfinals),’’ Krzyzewski said. “He worked out Friday. He’ll get some contact Monday. We’ve been good, but not real good without Zion. We’ve been inconsistent. We’re not playing at a level we need to play at to win a championship.’’

There hasn’t much to choose between the top three teams in this league. Virginia has beaten Carolina. Duke has beaten Virginia twice. Carolina has beaten Duke twice. “It’s been a heck of a conference season,’’ Krzyzewski said. ‘Carolina is playing lights out basketball. We fought hard. It’s been a while since the ACC has been this good. We have four teams with 25 wins.’’ 

The ACC has a chance to have three No. 1 seeds in the four brackets when the selection committee makes its official announcement next Sunday.

Certainly, the dominos will have to fall the right way.

But heading into tournament second ranked, regular season champion Virginia, third ranked North Carolina and fourth ranked Duke are all playing well enough to join Gonzaga at the top of the region if Kentucky doesn’t win the SEC tournament in Nashville.

Carolina has come a long way since the start of the season. A lot of that has to do with the way their guards have blown up offensively.

White, a McDonald’s All American from Goldsboro N.C. who is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the state and was an all-tournament player for the USA U18 team that won the gold medal in the FIBA U18 Americas championship in Canada last summer, has played himself into the NBA lottery. He has earned ACC Rookie the Week honors four times since making the transition from a high scoring wing to the point and only trails Williamson, who has won the award five times, in that category.

White came to Carolina with scorer’s instincts, averaging 31 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists at the Greenfield School in Wilson. “When I was in high school, I had to score for us to win,’’ he said. “I had raw point guard skills but coach (Roy) Williams had enough confidence in me to give me the keys to the car.’’

White was a train wreck in Carolina’s 88-72 victory over Duke at Cameron Feb. 20, shooting just 3 for 14 and turning the ball over six times against Devils’ freshman point guard and defensive stopper Tre Jones. “He sped me up,’’ White said. “Obvously, I don’t want to play as bad as I did there, but I think after that game I told myself I have play better. And continue to grind. Tonight, I played at more of my pace. And I got into a rhythm.’’

This time, Williams had three assists and did not commit a turnover in 36 minutes against the Blue Devils (26-5, 14-4).

White has blossomed into a star the second half of this season, learning the nuances of the point guard position from former Tar Heel star and current staffer Kendall Marshall, scoring 33 or more points three times against Texas, Miami and Syracuse and making six threes against Syracuse and Clemson, becoming the first Tar Heel to make at least six threes in consecutive games.

Williams, arguably the Tar Heels’ best perimeter defender in the Roy Williams era, finished with 18 points and four threes while drawing four charges for the Tar Heels, who also got 14 points and 10 rebounds from senior forward Cam Johnson and 16 rebounds from Luke Maye.

Duke attempted to stay competitive with a 26-point, 12 rebound performance by Duke’s gifted freshman wing RJ Barrett, who could go 2-3 in the NBA lottery; and 23 points from a third Blue Devils’ blue- chip freshman forward Cam Reddish. But those two needed 50 shots to get their points.

A Duke team with Zion Williamson is a whole different story. But Carolina appears ready for the challenge.      

“We prepared like Zion was playing today,’’ Williams said. “We prepared like Zion was playing the first time, so we’re going to prepare like Zion is playing the third time, like we normally do. We are going to prepare for a big game.’’