North Carolina vs Wagner Basketball
Date: Thursday, March 21
Game Time: 2:45 pm ET
Venue: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC
How To Watch: CBS
Record: North Carolina (27-7), Wagner (17-15)
NCAA Tournament Region: West
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North Carolina vs Wagner Game Preview
Why Wagner Will Win
Wagner Seed: 16, CFN Ranking 1-68: 68
Net Ranking: 290, KenPom Ranking: 293
Consensus Ranking 1-68: 68
Talk about heart.
Wagner has just seven healthy players, doesn’t have a high-powered offense, and doesn’t do much of anything on the line. But it was able to get up early on Howard, Melvin Council couldn’t miss in the first half, and the team held on for dear life in the 71-68 win to move on.
The defense was fantastic against the Bison three-point bombers, and it’ll have to hold on against the Tar Heels while slowing the game down to a dead stop.
The Seahawks went a little faster than they’d like to go in the second half - and it almost proved costly - but they’ll need to milk every second of the clock because …
Why North Carolina Will Win
North Carolina Seed: 1, CFN Ranking 1-68: 3
Net Ranking: 8, KenPom Ranking: 9
Consensus Ranking 1-68: 7
Pound inside, pound inside, pound inside.
Wagner was able to survive and advance, but it got into huge foul trouble early against Howard and things became dicey. Again, with just seven healthy guys - and no inside presence whatsoever - the Tar Heels aren’t going to mess around.
They led the ACC in free throw attempt, own the boards, and have the size to dominate on both ends.
North Carolina vs Wagner: Who Will Win
Wagner will come out firing early, but for all the things that went right against Howard, this really isn’t a team that can crank up the offense. Even stranger, it hit the free throws late - it’s an awful team on the line.
North Carolina will turn up the energy eight minutes in, the Wagner could will start to add up, and this will be a breather in the second half.
North Carolina vs Wagner Prediction, Odds
North Carolina 81, Wagner 55
Line: North Carolina -24, o/u: 133.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2.5
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