NC State Eyeing Fifth Straight Win
Both teams head into the game with strong recent results as North Carolina has won four of its last five games while North Carolina State takes a four-game winning streak into the matchup.
This is the fourth meeting in a row when both North Carolina State and North Carolina enter the game as unranked teams.
North Carolina is 9-0 at home while North Carolina State is 2-2 in true road games.
Jack Clark has missed the last four games for North Carolina State with hip and groin injuries and he is questionable. Clark leads the Wolfpack with an average of 7.3 rebounds per game and is fifth on the team in scoring, putting up 9.1 points per contest.
For North Carolina, Jalen Washington (4 points per game) is questionable with an ankle injury.
North Carolina is eighth nationally in defensive rebounding, 23rd in total rebounds and in the top 35 with an average of 79.6 points per game.
North Carolina State fell four points short of breaking into the top 25 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. The Tar Heels began the season as the No. 1 ranked team in both national polls but are in danger of not receiving votes in either poll.
According to the college basketball odds North Carolina (+3300) is tied for 12th in the odds to win the national title.
North Carolina (+700) is tied for fourth in the odds to win the ACC title while North Carolina State (+2500) is eighth.
Let’s check the latest college basketball news, stats, injury reports and college basketball lines for North Carolina State vs North Carolina. We’ve got plenty of NCAA basketball picks for you to consider.
Leading the Charge
No North Carolina State player has led the ACC in scoring since Anthony Barber during the 2016-17 season. That could change as sophomore Terquavion Smith is setting the pace at 19.1 points per game.
Smith has scored at least 20 points in five straight games and also leads the conference with 57 3-pointers.
🔥 5-straight 20+ games! 🔥
Terquavion Smith dropped a game-high 25 points in the win over GT!@PackMensBball | @Tgetsbuckss23 pic.twitter.com/JZZkBaRCJe
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) January 18, 2023
While Smith is averaging 20.3 in road games, he is shooting just 34.3% from the field and his 27.1% mark on 3-pointers on the road is more than 10 points lower than what he is shooting at home.
Smith has also doubled his assist per game total and has gone from 1.3 to 1.8 steals per game. He had 54 points in the two matchups against the Tar Heels last season.
The Las Vegas odds total has gone under in five of North Carolina State’s last sevengames.
Figuring Things Out?
The season began with such promise for North Carolina with four of the top six scorers coming back from a team that led the national championship game by 12 points in the second half before falling by three points to Kansas.
However, a four-game losing streak earlier in the season made it clear that there is work yet to be done. North Carolina is trending in the right direction again with four wins over the last five games. The lone loss came to Virginia when Armando Bacot, the top rebounder and No. 4 scorer in the ACC, left the game in the opening minute with an ankle injury. Bacot is averaging 17 points and 16 rebounds in the last two games so he is doing fine.
As long as Bacot stays healthy, the key to the season figures to be the play of guard R.J. Davis and Caleb Love. They combined for six 3-pointers and 34 points the last time out and the Tar Heels will be hard to beat if they continue to produce like that.
North Carolina has covered against the college basketball betting lines in just two of its last seven games.
North Carolina State vs North Carolina Game Injuries
North Carolina State vs North Carolina Head-to-Head
North Carolina has won eight of the last nine games against North Carolina State, including the last three. Just two of those matchups have been decided by six points or less.
The Tar Heels have won each of the last four games when North Carolina State comes to Chapel Hill and covered in each of them.
The home team had won five games in a row in the series before the Tar Heels’ 84-74 win on Feb. 26 as a four-point favorite.
Each of the last five games between the Wolfpack and Tar Heels have finished over the total.
North Carolina State vs North Carolina Game Information
- Game: North Carolina State (15-4, 5-3 ACC) vs North Carolina (13-6, 5-3)
- Location: Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC
- Day/Time: Saturday, Jan. 21, 5:00 p.m. ET
- North Carolina State vs North Carolina Live Stream: TBS.com
North Carolina State vs North Carolina Betting Lines
North Carolina State vs North Carolina Picks & Prediction
The top scoring teams in the ACC are set to meet for the first time this season. The issue at times has come at the other end of the court. North Carolina is just 13th in the ACC in scoring defense and the teams are ninth and 10th in the conference in field-goal percentage defense.
Keep an eye on the inside play since North Carolina is second in the ACC and North Carolina State third in rebounding margin.
North Carolina has a 13-2 record when listed as the favorite while North1051071 Carolina State is 3-3 when listed by the sportsbook as the underdog.
The Tar Heels are just 4-5 against the spread at home with four of those games also going under the total while NC State has covered in two of its four true road games.
North Carolina State is listed at +215 in our Las Vegas college basketball lines. This means that if you wager $100 on the Wolfpack, you have a chance to win $215. North Carolina is -265, offering a chance to win $38 on a $100 wager.
The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives North Carolina State a 31.75% chance to win, with North Carolina at 72.60%.
North Carolina State vs North Carolina Trends
North Carolina State vs North Carolina Edge
North Carolina State vs North Carolina Results
North Carolina State vs North Carolina Game Summary
