The No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels (5-1) battle the No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide (5-1) Sunday in Portland at 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the North Carolina vs. Alabama odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
Rankings courtesy of USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
North Carolina has been playing with fire as the No. 1 team in the country all season. It finally caught up to them Friday with a 70-65 loss to Iowa State in Portland, just a day after beating a closer-than-expected 89-81 win over Portland State. North Carolina is outside the top 50 in the nation in scoring offense and scoring defense.
Alabama lives and dies by the 3-point shot. The Crimson Tide are 21st in the nation, averaging 28.3 attempts per game, but they’ve only hit an average of 9 per game. Taking so many 3s, you would love to see a higher percentage of makes. If they shoot at this rate against the Tar Heels, UNC has the talent to run them out of the gym. If they can hit these shots, it could be a 2nd loss in a row for North Carolina in Portland.
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North Carolina vs. Alabama odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 9 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): North Carolina +100 (bet $100 to win $100) | Alabama -130 (bet $130 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): North Carolina +1.5 (-110) | Alabama -1.5 (-110)
- Over/Under (O/U): 155.5 (O: -105 | U: -115)
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North Carolina vs. Alabama picks and predictions
Prediction
UNC 78, Alabama 72
Moneyline
BET UNC +100.
The Tar Heels finally lost their 1st game of the season after failing to be the dominant No.1 team as ranked in the preseason. Now that the 1st blemish is on the apple, UNC will rebound and win this game against Alabama. Being the underdog in this matchup, I prefer to take the +100 moneyline over the spread of +1.5 (-110).
Against the spread
PASS.
With the feeling being UNC will win outright, it is not worth it to take the spread instead.
Over/Under
BET UNDER 155.5 (-115).
Both teams sit outside the top 50 in scoring offense. With Alabama hitting only 32.1 percent of its 3-point shots per game, this will leave plenty of opportunity for North Carolina and its transition offense. Unfortunately, this has not been good so far this season for the Tar Heels and they will also find trouble scoring.
It feels like a high number for the way these 2 teams are playing right now. So Under 155.5 (-115) is my favorite play in this matchup.
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