Greenville will host a pair of ACC/SEC matchups in the second-round on Sunday. The first of which pits Mike Anderson’s No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks against the region’s top-seed North Carolina Tar Heels. These programs last met on the college hardwood in the round of 32 back in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. UNC went on to win that game 87-78 to punch its ticket to the Sweet 16 which is something the Hogs haven’t done in over 20 years.
At 6:10 p.m. ET, tune into TNT for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Sunday, March 19, 2017, at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every NCAA tournament game on Sunday’s college basketball schedule.
College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Arkansas +10.5
North Carolina -10.5
Over/Under 160.5
The Tar Heels have gone off the board favored in all but one of their 35 played games. To nobody’s surprise, they once again find themselves in that role for this matchup having opened as 10 point favorites with a game total of 160.5. There’s been no movement with the total, but the betting public bumped them up to 10.5 point favorites with a whopping 93 percent of the early action riding them. Look for the betting line to rise the closer we get to tip with it already tagged with -115 juice.
Road To Final Four
The Hogs found themselves in a back and forth affair with the Seton Hall Pirates in the team’s first round matchup on Friday. A questionable call that went in the favor of Arkansas allowed it to move ahead for good and secure the 77-71 win in a pick ‘em game. The total combined to go over by a single point much to the chagrin of under bettors. The win moved Mike Anderson’s squad to 5-1 straight up and 3-2 against the spread on neutral courts.
Any thought of a No. 16 upsetting a No. 1 was quickly squashed by Justin Jackson who rediscovered his shooting stroke to tally 19 of his 21 points in the first half. His heroics got the South Region’s No. 1 seed out to a 52-27 halftime lead that allowed for Roy Williams to empty his bench over the last 20 minutes. UNC’s top-ranked rebounding margin played to form with the Heels outrebounding overmatched Texas Southern 50-24. They’ll enter the second-round 6-2 straight up and 5-2-1 against the spread on neutral courts.
Key Stat
15 – The Razorbacks have been middle of the road when it comes to forcing turnovers. For the year, they’re only forcing an average of 13.1 miscues. On the road, that average falls to just 11.8. However, in Friday’s tilt with the Pirates, Jaylen Barford’s four steals helped lead Arkansas to 15 overall forced turnovers. UNC has been great at valuing its possessions with it only averaging 11.9 turnovers per game. That figure drops to 10.0 over their last three games, so if Arkansas is to have a shot of pulling this upset, it’s going to have to mimic the effort against Seton Hall and find a way to limit the Heel’s possessions.
Free College Basketball ATS Pick
The Hogs entered the tourney hot having won eight of its previous 10 games and covered seven of those contests against the closing pointspread. However, the two losses were incurred against Florida and Kentucky. By far the two best entrants the SEC sent to the Big Dance. They lost those matchups by an average of 15 points and conceded an average of 80 points per game.
Anderson has done a fine job resurrecting this program from the ashes and has some solid talent at his disposal, but it’s simply not ready to win a game like this against a top notch Tar Heels squad determined to make another Final Four run. Look for Arkansas to hang a nice tally on the scoreboard, but in the end, it simply won’t be enough to keep pace with the Heels. UNC is going to dominate the offensive glass like Seton Hall did, but has the shooters to make the Razorbacks pay for it.
College Basketball Odds: North Carolina 93, Arkansas 75
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