The North Carolina Tar Heels (11-5, 3-2 ACC) face the No. 12 Virginia Cavaliers (11-3, 3-2) in Charlottesville Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET (ESPN). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the North Carolina vs. Virginia odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
After a rough start to the season North Carolina has won 6 of its last 7 games. The Tar Heels covered an 11.5-spread in beating Notre Dame 81-64 on Saturday.
Virginia beat Syracuse 73-66 on Saturday, but did not cover as 12.5-point favorites. That came after Virginia lost its previous game at Pitt 68-65.
While UNC is 23rd in the nation at 81.4 points per game, the Virginia defense is 15th in the nation allowing just 59.6 PPG while also playing at a slow pace which ranks in the bottom 5 in the country.
Rankings courtesy of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
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Kansas at West Virginia odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 12:04 p.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): UNC +155 (bet $100 to win $155) | Virginia -210 (bet $210 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): UNC +4.5 (-110) | Virginia -4.5 (-110)
- Over/Under (O/U): 131.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
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North Carolina at Virginia picks and predictions
Prediction
North Carolina 73, Virginia 68
Moneyline
BET NORTH CAROLINA +155.
Virginia is 8-1 at home but UNC is coming into with momentum and the offense will be able to force Virginia to pick up the pace which the Cavaliers do not like to do. It will disrupt them enough to allow UNC to gain the victory.
Against the spread
NO WAGER on the spread is the best play here. We are already taking UNC on the ML so doubling down on the spread is not needed. If you prefer to take the spread, UNC is a good wager at +4.5 as Virginia is 1-9 ATS in its last 10 games. The Cavaliers are also 0-5 in their last 5 games ATS on Tuesday.
Over/Under
BET OVER 131.5 (-110) in this game.
UNC is going to dictate the pace and this means a faster game then Virginia will want to play. This also means points will be scored. UNC games have gone Over the total in 6 straight and this game will make it 7.
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