The North Carolina Tar Heels are looking to bounce back after losing to Kentucky. They now get to take on a different Wildcat team in the Davidson Wildcats on Saturday afternoon. Davidson offers a nice reprieve for the only three-loss team in the top-25 going into the week.
Davidson is the start of a nice, easier portion of the UNC schedule as the Tar Heels return home, looking to regain some momentum before their ACC schedule begins in the New Year. Can North Carolina use this game to get back on track with a huge win, covering the spread? Or will Davidson make a statement by keeping this one within shouting distance?
This should be a fun and exciting contest for both teams as they kick start their post-holiday schedule and head into conference play.
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Davidson Wildcats vs. North Carolina Tar Heels
Date and Time: Saturday, December 29, 2018, 12 p.m. ET
Location: Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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Wildcats vs. Tar Heels TV Coverage: ESPN2
The Wildcats have quietly had a pretty strong start to the season, particularly for an Atlantic-10 school that scheduled some difficult out-of-conference opponents.
Davidson comes into play 9-3 with losses to Purdue, Temple and Wake Forest. All of those losses did come away from home and that doesn’t bode well for this one as Davidson travels to Chapel Hill to take on a stacked UNC team.
The team is coming off a win, toppling Central Penn to snap a two-game losing streak. It was a rather easy win with the Wildcats blowing out the Knights, 88-54. Davidson got out to an early lead and continued to play tough. The team had six different players reach double-digit points in the contest, including Luka Brajkovic who notched a double-double with 11 rebounds and a team high 14 points.
Brajokovic shot 7-for-10 from the floor and dominated inside. Carter Collins nearly had a double-double of his own with a dozen points and nine rebounds. He also added three assists.
A guard, Collins plays primarily on the outside, but has been a solid rebounder and a good outside shooter as well. As for Brajokovic, he leads the team in rebounds. He’s the big man on an otherwise guard heavy team. He plays up against lesser teams like the Knights, but is a crucial piece against a team like UNC, too.
As for the rest of the team, Kellan Grady leads the team in scoring and he and Jon Alex Gudmundsson are scoring 19.4 and 18.1 PPG respectively. Grady, however, has missed the last three games, leaving Gudmundsson as the primary scorer on the outside with Brajokovic the lead inside the paint.
On the other side of this matchup, UNC has the clear advantage in talent. They’re outscoring the Wildcats, outshooting the Wildcats and out rebounding the Wildcats.
The Tar Heels do have three losses just like Davidson, but two have come against Michigan and Kentucky. Those are tough losses. The other, against Texas, was a bit more troublesome for the Tar Heels. Still, though, UNC scored 89 in the contest with a 33-point performance from Coby White.
Their most recent game was the loss to Kentucky. They’ll try to get a win against a different Wildcat team on Saturday, but the Kentucky version held down what has otherwise been a stout offense, keeping UNC to just 72-points.
In the game, White was limited to eight-points and Cameron Johnson, Luke Maye and Kenny Williams were the only double-digit scorers. Johnson and Maye shot well in a few chances outside, but the team just didn’t get the offense going as they usually do. The team was also held to 33 rebound while it usually tallies 44.
Maye the primary rebounder for the team with 9.7 per contest while Johnson and Garrison Brooks are strong options on the boards as well.
Johnson’s the leader in scoring with 16.6 PPG and provides rebounds, assists, steals and solid shooting form the backcourt. Meanwhile, he’s joined by White, Williams and Seventh Woods to form a strong backcourt. Inside, the team’s got solid players, too, with Maye, Nassir Little and Brooks.
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Davidson hasn’t been able to prove itself against the better teams and with UNC coming in as a ranked team, at home, they certainly provide an uphill battle for the Wildcats. For the Tar Heels, it comes down to the rebounds.
UNC is one of the nation’s best rebounding teams and height and talent inside offer them a clear advantage on Saturday. Davidson will have to compete inside to have a chance, but will need big performances on the perimeter as well to cover the spread.
Watch how the rebounding goes early for Davidson and if they can battle for the boards. Meanwhile, watch the team’s perimeters shooting as well considering everything needs to go right for Davidson in this one.
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Key Player
Brajokovic is the key in this one. While the Wildcats are at a disadvantage outside against Johnson and White, particularly with Grady’s health, UNC is a dominant force rebounding and competing against the boards has been one way the other teams have been able to top the Tar Heels.
Davidson will look for Brajokovic to play big inside and compete for rebounds on both the offensive and defensive side of the court. They also need the big man to shoot well inside, opening lanes and shots from Gudmundsson and company outside.
If Davidson gets a good game from Brajokovic and the 6’10” forward is able to get back in the double-digits in rebounds again, it could be a nice day for the Wildcats. Otherwise, look for UNC to cruise to an easy win.
Wildcats vs. Tar Heels Live Betting
The Tar Heels have been far from unbeatable this year, but UNC holds a clear talent advantage in this one and Davidson has yet to show the ability to truly hang with the big boys in the power conferences.
Look for UNC to own the inside and leverage excellent rebounding to win this one rather handily on Saturday. The home team should be able to spread the court against Davidson and get back to its high-scoring ways.
Meanwhile, Davidson doesn’t have the firepower to keep up. The Wildcats look good against lesser opponents, but look for them to fall short in this one, both literally and figuratively. Brajokovic is just not enough inside.
Be sure to check out all of the live betting at BookMaker.eu for this weekend’s college basketball action.
NCAA Basketball Score Prediction: North Carolina 91, Davidson 74
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