6:00 p.m. ET: Duke Blue Devils (18-3) at North Carolina Tar Heels (16-6)

Spread: Duke -3
Total: 150

The #9 Duke Blue Devils visit the North Carolina Tar Heels after Paolo Banchero scored 21 points in Duke’s 57-43 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish the last time out. The Tar Heels are 12-0 in home games. North Carolina leads the ACC in rebounding, averaging 38.4 boards. The Blue Devils have gone 8-2 against ACC opponents. Bacot is averaging 16.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks for the Tar Heels. Banchero is shooting 49.6% and averaging 17.8 points for the Blue Devils. This North Carolina defense has struggled this season, allowing 49% field goal scoring from opponents while standing out as one of the worst teams in the entire nation at forcing turnovers. North Carolina will face one of its biggest challenges of the season defensively against a Duke offense that is ranked 16th in KenPom. The Tar Heels three games against elite competition resulted in a nine-point loss to No. 4 Purdue, 17 point loss to No. 22 Tennessee, and a 29-point beatdown against No.5 Kentucky, and their best win by KenPom is against 42nd-ranked Michigan. Since this is a big rivalry game you can expect the possibility of it being a close one but Duke is the much better team and UNC struggles to score and gives up too many points for this Duke team. Take the Dukies to cover this low number on the road. 

Trends

• The Home team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
   

The Bookie:          Duke -3 / Over 150
Fade the Public:   UNC / Under
Sharp Action:       Duke / Over