Two top-10 teams take the floor in Chapel Hill as Ohio State takes on North Carolina in the latest stellar entry from the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
The first full day of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge was a thrill, with great matchups featuring Louisville taking down red hot Michigan and a young Duke team going into East Lansing to take Michigan State’s lunch money. The challenge delivers another great game tonight as another marquee Big Ten program hits the road when Ohio State heads down to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina.
The Buckeyes are red hot and off to a 7-0 start, but they haven’t beaten anyone notable outside of Villanova, who they did beat on Nov. 13. The key for Ohio State has been a stellar defense which has limited opponents to just 52.7 points per game, good for the sixth-best mark in the nation in that category.
The star performer for the Buckeyes is junior forward Kaleb Wesson, who averages 12.7 points per game and grabs 9.3 rebounds a night for Ohio State. Wesson should have his hands full on the glass against the Tar Heels, who are the country’s second-best rebounding team to date.
North Carolina is 6-1 on the year, with the one loss coming to Michigan in the Battle 4 Atlantis last week, but they rebounded it nicely by picking up a four-point win over Oregon in the third-place game. Freshman point guard Cole Anthony has been the engine that drives the North Carolina offense, averaging 20.7 points per game and chipping in 7.3 rebounds per game for good measure.
Both teams will be looking at this game as an opportunity to make a statement, with a win being a potential separator for squads who are trying to end up near the top lines of the brackets come March. A win here could be much more important for North Carolina, which has a very tough trip to Virginia on deck this weekend and would like to avoid the possibility of dropping three out of four.
Ohio State could more easily absorb a loss with a matchup against Penn State at home over the weekend, but they would much rather fly home with a win for the Big Ten under their belts.
How to watch Ohio State at North Carolina
- Date: Wednesday, Dec. 4
- Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Chapel Hill, NC
- Venue: Dean E. Smith Center
- TV: ESPN
- Live Stream: WatchESPN
- Odds: North Carolina -2.5 (The Action Network)
- Prediction: North Carolina
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