North Carolina vs Duke prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Saturday, February 4
North Carolina vs Duke How To Watch
Date: Saturday, February 4
Game Time: 6:30 ET
Venue: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: North Carolina (15-7), Duke (16-6)
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North Carolina vs Duke Game Preview
Why North Carolina Will Win
The Tar Heels haven’t been consistent, but like always, they’re great on the boards and terrific at cranking up the points.
There are defensive issues, and the three point shooting is more about bulk than efficiency, but for the most part it’s all working well enough to keep on winning.
The rebounding is making up for the mediocre outside shooting, and Duke has a problem when it’s not dominating the boards.
The Blue Devils are 8-0 when coming up with 40 rebounds or more and 8-6 when they don’t. How many teams got 40 boards against North Carolina this year? One, and Alabama needed four overtimes to get them.
Why Duke Will Win
North Carolina’s defense doesn’t force enough mistakes and it’s just okay at guarding the three.
Duke has the scoring pop to keep up the pace from the outside – it has the shooting ability North Carolina doesn’t. As long as the offense is working the ball around consistently for the right shot, the production should be there.
Duke is 7-0 when making 40% or more of its threes – 14-2 when making 30% or more. North Carolina can find ways to manufacture points in a variety of ways, but …
What’s Going To Happen
North Carolina has to crank up the points. This isn’t a team that comes up big in defensive struggles, and it has massive problems away from home.
Just 2-4 outside of Chapel Hill – and 10-1 at home – it has to make this a firefight. North Carolina is 0-4 when scoring fewer than 69 points, and Duke is – who’s 11-0 at home – has only allowed more than that twice in Cameron Indoor.
It’ll be a fight in the first meeting of the two. The regular season finale will be bigger, but this will set a tone for the last few weeks.
North Carolina vs Duke Prediction, Line
Duke 75, North Carolina 71
Line: Duke -3, o/u: 144
ATS Confidence out of 5: 1.5
Must See Ranking: 4
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