North Carolina vs. Notre Dame Prediction and Odds: Back Tar Heels In South Bend
By Matt De Saro
ACC action is on tap Wednesday night when the North Carolina Tar Heels hit the road to the Purcell Pavillion at the Joyce Center in South Bend to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish are coming off a home victory over the Pittsburgh Panthers 68-67 thanks to a Prentiss Hubb game-winner. The conference win left Notre Dame with a 7-5 overall record and extended their winning streak to three games.
UNC, meanwhile, will carry a 10-3 record into Indiana tonight with a perfect 2-0 record in conference play. They are coming off back-to-back wins of 20 points or more including a blowout over Boston College 91-65. While Notre Dame is playing their best basketball of the season, the Tar Heels present a very tough matchup on the road.
Here are the odds for this ACC matchup, courtesy of WynnBET Sportsbook.
North Carolina vs. Notre Dame Odds, Spread and Total
Spread:
- North Carolina: -2 (-110)
- Notre Dame: +2 (-110)
Moneyline:
- North Carolina: -135
- Notre Dame: +115
Total: 144.5 (Over -110/Under -110)
North Carolina vs. Notre Dame Prediction and Pick
While the UNC Tar Heels are not the top-ranked powerhouse team that we have all come to expect from them, they are no pushovers either. They beat Michigan earlier in the year when they were considered a title contender and are 2-0 in the ACC so far. However, UNC also has a couple of ugly losses. The Tar Heels lost to the Purdue Boilermakers, Tennessee Volunteers, and Kentucky Wildcats. It's also worth noting that all three of their losses came at neutral sites, but UNC has a perfect 3-0 mark in their other road games.
The Tar Heels shot the lights out in their dominating win over Boston College and broke into the top 10 in overall three-point shooting. North Carolina scores 79.5 PPG on average and ranks 32nd in overall shooting. Where things begin to fall apart for the Tar Heels is on the defensive end of the court. UNC ranks a dismal 245th in the nation in points allowed and 177th in opponent’s field goal percentage at 42.2
While the Tar Heels defense needs some work, they do match up well against the Irish. Notre Dame is not a very good offensive team and enter tonight ranked 181st in shooting percentage and 228th in overall scoring. While Notre Dame is off to a nice start to the year, and coming off a win, they are coming up against at Tar Heels team that is starting to heat up. They obliterated BC last week, the same team that ND lost to by 16 points a few weeks back. I think the Tar Heels being that momentum into tonight and handle Notre Dame with relative ease.
Pick: North Carolina -2 (-110)