Matt Jones didn't expect his game day to smell like chlorine. He didn't expect to be trapped inside a natatorium for two hours.
The air was sticky with no AC to break up the humidity. Jones, alongside fellow UNC students, jammed themselves into "very vertical" seating — the type of seats that promise back pain before you ever sit down. Knees were crunched to chests. Clothes clung to skin.
"You're just sitting there in this room, uncomfortable, squished in like sardines," Jones said. "I just want to watch Carolina beat Duke."
Eventually, Jones' frustration culminated into one wish. He shared it with his friend, Matthew, who bore the natatorium's conditions with him. Jones wished for his AirPods. The silence was driving him crazy. He couldn't take it anymore. Matthew pulled out his own pair from his pocket. One AirPod in Jones' ear. One in Matthew's. Country artist Zach Bryan soothed the friends, making the time go faster ahead of opening tip.
"It wasn't like we were suffering," Jones said. "But there were complaints. It wasn't the most fun waiting experience."
Although UNC students don't leave the comfort of their bedrooms to stay in tents like the Blue Devils ahead of rivalry games, they experience one long day of discomfort. When Duke and UNC play at 6:30 p.m., students wake up more than 12 hours earlier. They attend College GameDay, with lines forming as early as 7:30 a.m., and then they wait. Oh, and they wait some more, scattered around locations like UNC's business school, the Koury Natatorium or just outside the doors of the arena. In March, the Tar Heels will do it all again to see the two teams square off in the Dean E. Smith Center.
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Still, the conditions don't hinder the anticipation.
Last year, then-junior Abby Moore's excitement started four days ahead of the game when she saw nine numbers listed in a Microsoft Excel sheet created by Carolina Fever, an organization that provides students assured admission into the UNC-Duke game for attending different sporting events throughout the school year. It's simple: The more sporting events a student goes to, the more points they earn. Moore hadn't missed one game.