How about the greatest rivalry in college basketball being played with first place in the ACC at stake? That’s what we have on Wednesday when the North Carolina Tar Heels make the short trip to visit the Duke Blue Devils. The Dookies sit atop the conference standings just one game ahead of the Heels, and we’ll see a great collection of talent in what should be a special night. The teams have split the last eight meetings with no margin over 10 points and it’s sure to be a tight one for the first confrontation of this season.
North Carolina Tar Heels at Duke Blue Devils
Date and Time: Wednesday, February 20, 2019, 9 p.m. ET
Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC
CBB Betting Online Odds at Bookmaker.eu: Check Back Later
North Carolina at Duke TV Coverage: ESPN
Live Betting Odds Analysis
You can pretty much toss any trends and analytics out the window in a rivalry game of this magnitude. And with so much at stake it’s all about who gets the hot hand and the benefit of some calls. But the Heels will enter Cameron Indoor with a little momentum after knocking off Wake Forest their last time out. The Heels were stinging from their loss to Virginia last week but they showed no signs of a letdown by hammering the Deacons 95-57 for their biggest win in a league road game.
I know, Wake isn’t the same as Duke, or Virginia, or Louisville. But playing a complete game and allowing starters to take a little breather in advance of this behemoth matchup should help a little bit. But the Heels have struggled against top-level competition with three of their five losses against teams that were ranked at the time of the playing. A fourth has since entered the rankings.
Duke will likely move into the No. 1 spot in the national rankings when the new poll is released. They certainly are the most talented team and they proved no deficit is too big with a dramatic comeback to beat Louisville last week. They followed that with another impressive outing in taking down NC State 94-78. They failed to cover in those games ending a streak where the Devils had gone 4-0 ATS. They are an impressive 15-10 ATS for the season despite playing against numerous outrageous lines.
Matchup to Watch
UNC will have to find a way to contain Williamson down low, but that’s much easier said than done. Luke Maye and Garrison Brooks are the likely candidates to man up against the man-child, and we will likely see the Heels play a little zone defense to change things up. But the matchup to watch in this one takes place in the backcourt between Duke’s Tre Jones and UNC’s Coby White. The two floor leaders will attempt to put their team in a position to do the most damage, and they’ve been very good so far.
White is more active on the scoring front with a 15.7 per game average, including a 33-point night in UNC’s overtime thriller with Miami. He leads the Heels in assists and is a tenacious defender. Jones doesn’t score as much, but he doesn’t need to. He defers to Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish most of the time, but he’s the guy Coach K wants on the floor in crunch time. Jones has played 40 minutes in each of the last three games and has turned the ball over just three times in that span.
Key Stat
We said it before and at some point it’s going to be fatal, but so far the Blue Devils have been able to survive without a consistent threat from behind the arc. When you score 58 points in the paint and outrebound a team 44-26 like Duke did in a win over NC State, the three-point shot doesn’t need to be a weapon.
Duke took advantage of the smaller Wolfpack to dominate inside, which is where Williamson hangs out. He cashed in on 12 of 16 shots with most point-blank attempts. And despite making just 3 of 16 triples, the Dookies connected on 53 percent of their field goals. They were an insane 64 percent on two-point tries. The Devils scored over 86 points per game but they rank 315th in the country connecting on just 31.3 percent of their triples.
College Basketball Live Betting Picks
The teams can play defense but they are built more for scoring. And they do that well. UNC is No. 2 in the country at 87.5 points per game while Duke is No. 4 at 86.4. We’ve also witnessed a number of close encounters in the series with only one of the past 12 meetings decided by more than 10 points. The Devils win at Virginia and their comeback in Louisville tell us these guys are special. They have better talent among the first five and the homecourt edge is something that means plenty in this series.
College Basketball Score Prediction: Duke 78, North Carolina 73
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
