The North Carolina Tar Heels fell for the second time this year over the weekend. They were knocked off on Saturday in Austin, and got a really tough game ahead over the weekend against UCLA. However, before the duel with the Bruins, they've got a home date with the Tulane Green Wave in what constitutes the perfect sandwich game for a top flight team with Final Four aspirations.
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HOW THE TULANE GREEN WAVE CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Tulane has to make sure that it takes advantage of the opportunities it is given by the Tar Heels. North Carolina's defense isn't stifling by any stretch of the imagination, and the team does get a little turnover-happy from time to time.
The Green Wave knows they're topping out around 70 points in this game, and they have to reach that target to stay competitive.
Rebounding the basketball is going to be crucial. Tulane absolutely cannot get run off the court by getting outrebounded by 20. The Green Wave are outdoing their foes this year by 9.3 boards per game, and both Dylan Osetkowski and Jernard Jerreau have to make sure they stay out of foul trouble yet continue to rebound the ball aggressively.
Furthermore, Tulane has to slow this game down. North Carolina can force you to play a heck of a lot faster than you really want to, and the Green Wave have to avoid falling into this trap, or they could give up 100 points easily.
HOW THE NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
If Tulane has to keep this game slow, the Tar Heels have to speed things up like crazy. Look at some of their covers. They scored 98 on Davidson, 92 against Fairfield and 91 against Temple. They also scored just 78 on Wofford, 67 on Northern Iowa, 80 on Kansas State and 80 on Northwestern.
In the first three games, they went 3-0 ATS. In the last four, they went 0-3-1 ATS.
Even last Saturday against Texas, UNC only managed a total of 50 shots from the field. Roy Williams would much rather see his side shoot the ball 70 times than 50 for sure, knowing that pure athleticism should win the day more often than not.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
It's going to be really easy to just assume a North Carolina rebound in this game, but this spread is going to be too high to justify in our opinion.
Marcus Paige might be back in the fold, but all of a sudden, it's like so many of the other players in this lineup have forgotten how to play at a high level. Eventually, it'll all come together for the Tar Heels, but this isn't the night where it'll happen.
Tulane will slow North Carolina down just enough to stick inside of the number, though there won't be any doubt about which team is going to ultimately win this game in the second half.
North Carolina 81, Tulane 65
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Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here, so start betting with BookMaker today! The game between the Tulane Green Wave and the North Carolina Tar Heels is scheduled for Wednesday, December 16, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. ET at the Dean E. Smith Center. Catch the game live on ESPN2.
