The top of the East Region was filled with bluebloods of the sport of college basketball. The last two survivors from an awesome set of eight teams will battle for the right to go to the Elite Eight on Friday night in Philly when the Indiana Hoosiers look to upset the North Carolina Tar Heels.
NCAA Tournament Odds at BookMaker.eu
Indiana Hoosiers +5.5
North Carolina Tar Heels -5.5
Over/Under 160
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Live bettors are immediately going to notice the second half runs that both of these teams have gone on in their first two NCAA Tournament games and cringe at the prospects of trying to figure out which one of these teams will rally most in this one.
The Hoosiers were up 11 at the under 8:00 timeout against Chattanooga in the opening round of the tournament, only to go on a 21-3 run over five minutes to remove any doubt about the end result of that game. They followed that up by going on a 17-4 run against Kentucky to take a three-point deficit and turn it into a resounding victory.
UNC though, has been even more impressive. You almost felt the Tar Heels run coming in both of their games against Florida Gulf Coast and Providence. They were up by just one at the break against the No. 16 seeded Eagles before ripping apart the Friars in the second half of a game which looked to be close otherwise.
KEY MATCHUP
The Hoosiers have a lot of injury woes right now. They lost Robert Johnson once again to an ankle injury on Saturday, and we can't imagine that he'll be ready to go in this one. After that, Juwan Morgan went down with a shoulder injury. We grant you, neither of these players are going to be the catalysts for a win or a loss for the Hoosiers, but against North Carolina, you need all the bodies you can get.
The Tar Heels did an excellent job consistently getting the ball in the paint particularly against Providence, and that ultimately caused both Ben Bentil and Kris Dunn to get into major foul trouble. If UNC can do the same to Thomas Bryan, Collin Hartman and Troy Williams, this game could end up getting out of hand in a hurry.
Live bettors have to remember that we've seen bigs dominate in this tournament thus far. Play on the inside is why teams like Virginia, North Carolina and Gonzaga are all still in the second week of the tournament, and if the Tar Heels start really bulling their way to the inside against the IU defense, something Kentucky wasn't overly successful with, it could be a sign to hop on the favorites in live betting.
KEY STATS & TRENDS
These two teams have combined to go 3-1 ATS here in the tourney. The only ATS loss of the bunch came for North Carolina against Providence.
The Hoosiers have covered all four halves of basketball they've played thus far, while UNC is 0-2 ATS in first halves and 2-0 ATS in second halves.
North Carolina, for all that it does well, hasn't shot the three well in this tournament, something that is going to have to change if live bettors are going to ultimately be backing this team deep into the dance. The Tar Heels are just 11-of-35 (31.4%) from beyond the arc in the tourney, and that won't cut it against an Indiana team which does have the ability to run up and down the floor with them.
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