Most years, the two regular-season matchups between Duke and North Carolina are titanic clashes to determine which school can take its place as one of the best in the college basketball world.

This was not one of those games.

However, while the usual implications of this edition of the Tobacco Road Rivalry were absent, key insights about Duke were revealed in their 64-54 win.

Fortunately for Duke fans, these insights are positive.

1. Mason Plumlee can make significant contributions.

The younger Plumlee's game has looked raw and underdeveloped for most of the season. He has looked unsure of his ball-handling, demonstrated awkward footwork, and has committed needless fouls.

Even with these signs of inexperience, Plumlee proved in the win over the Tar Heels that there are several aspects of his game that will help Duke for the rest of this season and the postseason.

The largest contribution Plumlee made Wednesday night was on the glass. He pulled down six offensive rebounds and had nine in all. In a game in which neither team shot particularly well, rebounding performance was absolutely critical to the Blue Devils' victory.

Duke big men Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas have been oft-criticized this season for not asserting themselves under the basket and "playing shorter" than they actually are by crouching too far and allowing their shots to be blocked.

This isn't so with Mason Plumlee.

Not only did Plumlee show he was unafraid to go body-to-body with skilled Carolina defenders Ed Davis and Marcus Ginyard, he excelled against them. In addition to leading Duke in rebounds (along with Kyle Singler), he made several crucial baskets in the paint, including a putback in the first half and a highlight-reel reverse dunk that put Duke ahead for good with about seven minutes remaining in the game.

Although the Tar Heels are having a down year, Davis and Ginyard were both part of UNC's national championship team last season and are still both excellent inside defenders. For Plumlee to perform as well as he did against them is no fluke and is indicative of his skill and athleticism.

Plumlee certainly has a long way to go in his development, but he should continue to improve as the season goes on, and he has shown that he has the skills necessary to be an asset to the Blue Devils, as they are likely to face more talented frontcourts in the postseason.

He may become one of Duke's featured inside players by season's end, as his brother Miles has been inconsistent lately and Thomas sustained a significant knee injury during the win over UNC.

2. Duke's offense is truly multi-dimensional.

This statement might seem a little strange at first, as Duke has relied on its "Big Three" of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, and Nolan Smith for the vast majority of its points this season and lacks an elite inside scorer.

However, Duke's performance in the Carolina game showed that when one aspect of Duke's offensive game fails, another can rise up to compensate.

The Blue Devils shot an atrocious 25 percent from two-point range, and only 61 percent from the free-throw line. These glaring shortcomings might cause another team to fold in a road game against its biggest rival.

Duke, however, responded with a tremendous effort from its frontcourt, grabbing a very impressive total of 23 offensive rebounds, giving the Devils multiple opportunities for second chance points and kick-outs to the perimeter for three-point shots. Baskets from beyond the arc carried Duke to a victory, as Duke made nine of 18 three-pointers.

Finding ways to win in ugly games is a defining hallmark of championship-caliber teams in all sports, and Duke's offense showed it could come through on a night when almost none of the usual shots were falling.

3. Duke's defense can contend with quick guards and small forwards.

Although the Tar Heels' Larry Drew II, Dexter Strickland, and John Henson certainly aren't as heralded as Duke's Big Three, they have more speed than their counterparts in Durham and showed it for the first half of Wednesday's game. Drew and Strickland in particular were able to dribble-penetrate against a Duke defense that looked unprepared at times.

However, Duke made crucial adjustments in the second half that allowed their defenders to play much better positionally and collapse to the lane and basket when needed. The Blue Devils' remarkable ease in making key defensive switches late allowed them to shut down offensive production from UNC's guards.

The Tar Heels only managed 11 points during the last 12 minutes of the game, including a five-minute-plus stretch in which they were held without a field goal.

Jon Scheyer phrased it simply after the victory: "We just started to get stops." Carolina entered the game averaging right around 80 points per game; to hold them to 54 points, especially with speedier guards than Duke, speaks volumes about the ability of Mike Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils to make important defensive adjustments and adapt to the style of whichever offense they are facing.

Much of this was done without Lance Thomas, who has been one of Duke's best defenders this season. The Devils' ability to shut down UNC without him demonstrated that the Plumlee brothers are capable of fitting into whichever defensive scheme Coach K deems necessary for the situation.

4. Duke can win tough road games.

Until Wednesday, Duke only had one "signature" road win, a 60-47 victory at Clemson in January. That victory was also Duke's first of the season away from Durham, and many questioned the ability of the Blue Devils to contend in the Atlantic Coast Conference after struggling so mightily on the road, especially after a loss to N.C. State in which Duke looked uncharacteristically listless.

Even though the win against UNC was over a struggling opponent, every Duke trip to Chapel Hill is tantamount to walking into a hornet's nest, and the importance of the rivalry to the amount of intensity the players bring to the court cannot be underestimated. Regardless of UNC's record, there are very few away games that will test Duke's mettle as much as this one did.

There were a few moments in the game in which Duke could have let the flow of the contest get away from them. However, the Blue Devils showed a great deal of poise and responded with big shots and key stops when they were needed. Especially impressive, again, was Mason Plumlee, who did not appear to let the big stage of the rivalry at the Dean Dome rattle him as a freshman.

While Duke only has three true road games remaining, including one against a struggling Miami squad, earning those victories will be crucial if the Devils want to wrap up the ACC's regular season title. Duke finds itself in a tight race with Maryland and Wake Forest for the conference's top spot, as both schools are only one game behind Duke in the standings at the time of this writing.

Also, Duke has to play at Maryland at the Comcast Center in its penultimate regular season game—and College Park might be the toughest road game for the Devils in the ACC, with energetic fans that want a shot at Duke just as much as the fans in Chapel Hill do, along with a better team than UNC. That contest may determine the ACC's regular season champion and the top seed in the conference tournament.

Duke's victory against Carolina was indicative of a good team that is making strides toward becoming great. In the past few seasons, Duke has seemed to hit its stride too early in the season and fizzle out sooner than expected in the NCAA Tournament. However, this Duke team is showing that it's on the way to its peak, and has not already passed it.

Only time will tell just how far this scrappy bunch from Durham will make it in the Big Dance. However, if this win was any indication, the Dukies will be prepared to compete with whomever they may see come March and April.