Basketball Odds – Tar Heels Look To Bounce Back Against Wolfpack

Despite securing their 20th win for a seventh straight season, basketball odds makers know that the No. 19 North Carolina Tar Heels aren’t very happy with the way that they played in a close win over one of the worst defenses in the ACC their last time out. The Tar Heels squeezed past Boston College 48-46 at home, their lowest scoring total of the year. They’ll need a better offensive effort Wednesday when they take on the North Carolina State Wolfpack while searching for a fourth straight win.

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North Carolina Tar Heels @ North Carolina State Wolfpack

Wednesday February 23rd – 9:00 PM ET

RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina

Television: ESPN3

Basketball betting lines: North Carolina -5.5

The Wolfpack has strung together consecutive wins before falling to the Maryland Terrapins 87-80 on the road in their last game. The Tar Heels mark the final ranked opponent left on North Carolina State’s schedule, but it will take four straight wins to close out the season just for the Wolfpack to finish .500 in conference play.

Basketball Odds Handicapping: What North Carolina Will Have To Do To Win

North Carolina will win this game if they can rediscover their scoring touch. The 48 points the Tar Heels put up against Boston College marked the fewest scored by North Carolina in a game in the history of the Dean Smith Center, and was also the first time since 1997 that the team scored fewer than 50 points. The scariest part is that three Tar Heels actually reached double figures, which means that beyond Tyler Zeller (16), Harrison Barnes (10), and Kendall Marshall (10) the remainder of the team combined for just 12 points.

Basketball Odds Handicapping: What North Carolina State Will Have To Do To Win

The Wolfpack will win this game if they can try and force the issue defensively against North Carolina the way that the Eagles did their last time out. North Carolina State has the league’s third-worst defense at 70 points per game allowed and has allowed an average of 81 points against in their past four losses. To make matters worse, the Wolfpack will be without one of their best defenders in Richard Howell, who will not be in the lineup due to concussion effects. They’ll also need a big effort from leading scorer Tracy Smith, who had 19 points in the loss to Maryland.

Basketball Odds Handicapping: Outlook & Pick

The Tar Heels cannot do any worse offensively than they did against Boston College, so they shouldn’t have trouble scoring against North Carolina State. The Wolfpack have been nowhere near good enough defensively this season, and that has put too much pressure on the offense to perform. North Carolina still believes they can catch the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils, and will continue to perform in anticipation of a massive showdown in the season finale.

Basketball Odds Pick: North Carolina -5.5