One of the greatest rivalries in College Basketball is renewed when the North Carolina Tar Heels travel 11 miles to take on the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils on Saturday, February 1. With UNC enduring a mediocre season by their standards, the first of two matchups between the Tobacco Road rivals may have lost some of its intrigue. The Heels fell to Pitt on Tuesday, their third loss in four games, and they are just 13-9 overall. Duke hasn’t lost since before Thanksgiving reeling off 14 straight wins, though they are just 8-6 against the line at the Bitcoin sportsbook in that span. It looks like it could be an easy ride for Duke, but you can throw out the stats and records when these teams meet. UNC won the last two meetings and is 4-1 SU and ATS in its last five visits to Durham. The game tips at 6:30 p.m. ET from Cameron Indoor Stadium and will air on ESPN.
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North Carolina Tar Heels
Both teams were ranked inside the top 10 in the AP preseason rankings but have gone different directions over the course of the year. Probably due to brand recognition UNC opened the season at No. 9 and a little over a month later they were 4-4 and out of the top 25. The early losses were nothing to be ashamed of, but they were losses nonetheless with all four to teams that were at the time or are currently highly ranked. Michigan State was not ranked when the clubs met on Nov. 27. The Spartans won 94-91 in overtime and are now 17-2 and ranked No. 7.
Playing a difficult schedule is not unheard of for UNC, but they typically win a higher percentage of those games. They are just 1-4 against teams nationally ranked when they played with two of those losses coming against teams that were/are ranked No. 1. Back in early November the Heels lost to then No. 1 Kansas, 92-89. In late November they fell to Auburn 85-72. The Tigers were No. 4 at the time and have since risen to No. 1 in the country.
More concerning right now is the funk the Heels are in. They’ve dropped three of their last four games starting with a 72-71 home loss to Stanford when favored by 12.5-points. Most recently the Heels were beaten by Pitt, 73-65, when they committed 13 turnovers and were just 7 of 29 from three-point range. Their lone win in that span was over BC in overtime as a 19-point favorite. With R.J. Davis averaging a team-best 17.6 points the Heels can score the basketball. They are second in the ACC averaging 81.7 points per game, but their defense has been atrocious.
Duke Blue Devils
The Dookies have been favored in all but one game this season and the line reached double figures 14 times. During their current 14-game winning streak the closing spread was at least 19.5 points in eight of them with Duke earning the payout in three of those contests. With an average margin of 20.4 points you can see why Duke has been heavily favored.
Betting the total with Duke is a conundrum. They average 80 points per game led by future No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Cooper Flagg. The ACC’s second leading scorer averages 19.9 points and also leads the Blue Devils in rebounds, assists and blocked shots. A few weeks ago Flagg went off against Notre Dame scoring 42 points on 11 of 14 shooting from the field and 16 of 17 from the line. He’s scored at least 24 points in each of the last three games.
Duke also boasts one of the top defensive teams in the country holding opponents to less than 60 points per game. Only once in their last 12 games did they allow more than 65 points. In their last outing the Blue Devils held NC State to 41 percent shooting from the floor and committed just 12 fouls sending the Wolfpack to the stripe seven times. That’s likely a reason why Duke has yet to lose a home game. The Blue Devils are 12-0 inside Cameron Indoor but just 7-5 ATS.
North Carolina at Duke Same Game Parlay Picks
North Carolina ATS
North Carolina / Duke OVER
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