Duke freshman Austin Rivers shot a dagger through the hearts of the Tar Heels while pushing Duke fans into dreams of March glory.

Rivers drilled the game-winning shot in Wednesday night's Tobacco Road showdown to give the Blue Devils a 85-84 win and cap off the best game of his young career. 

Regular season college basketball games doesn't get any bigger than Duke versus North Carolina, and the youngster completely owned the moment as he hit for 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting. 

This was a huge moment for Rivers as he announced to the basketball world that he is the real deal. 

Rivers entered the program with an unbelievable amount of hype, and big things were expected. He has been far from a flop, but he hasn't exactly lit the world on fire either. He entered this game averaging 14.5 points per game, but was shooting just .447 from the field. 

The 29 points sets a career high for Rivers. His previous high watermark was 22 points. 

That 22-point performance came against Ohio State. The fact that Rivers is able to elevate his play in big games at this early stage in his career is huge for the Blue Devils. 

The pressure and spotlight is only going to increase as the season rolls along, and Rivers has proven he has the innate ability to rise above the occasion to dominate.