The North Carolina Tar Heels (15-7, 7-4 ACC) travel across town to take on the Duke Blue Devils (16-6, 7-4) at Cameron Indoor Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET (ESPN). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the North Carolina vs. Duke game odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
This has been a strange season in many ways. UNC and Duke opened the season ranked in the top 5, and both have fallen out of the ranks entirely. But some things remain the same including the hatred in this rivalry – one of the best rivalries in all of sports.
Duke, who comes in after beating Wake Forest 75-73 as 8-point favorites will look to defeat UNC and remain ahead of the Tar Heels in the ACC standings.
While Duke comes into this important matchup on a winning streak, UNC comes in after losing a close 65-64 loss to Pitt as 8.5-point favorites. This game will be a matchup between a North Carolina offense ranked 36th at 78.5 points going against a Duke defense ranked 38th at 63.7 points.
Duke, normally a solid 3-point team, ranks 270th this season making just 32.5% of its shots from behind the ark. These struggles have made the Blue Devils one-dimensional, and if North Carolina can exploit this, the Tar Heels will come out of Cameron with a victory.
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North Carolina at Duke odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 12:20 p.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): North Carolina +130 (bet $100 to win $130) | Duke -160 (bet $160 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): North Carolina +3.5 (-115) | Duke -3.5 (-105)
- Over/Under (O/U): 145.5 (O: -105 | U: -115)
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North Carolina at Duke picks and predictions
Prediction
North Carolina 70, Duke 67
Moneyline
North Carolina is coming off a tough loss to Pitt in its last game while Duke is coming off a 2-point win over Wake Forest and a 43-point decision over Georgia Tech. Despite this, Duke will be playing its first true competition against North Carolina without Dariq Whitehead in the lineup. This will finally be the game where his absence makes a difference, and North Carolina will be able to take advantage where the other teams were not talented enough to do so.
Look for a hard, physical battle as it always is in this rivalry. But the Tar Heels will come out on top, and getting them at +130 is good value.
Take NORTH CAROLINA +130.
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Against the spread
PASS on the spread in favor of the ML in this one.
Over/Under
UNDER 145.5 (-115) is the total side here.
UNC is 6-0 to the Under in its last 6 games, and it is also 4-0 to the Under in its last 4 against teams with a winning % over .600.
Duke, for its part is 4-0 to the Under in its last 4 Saturday games. Both teams have been hot and cold on the offensive side while Duke has been able to remain consistent on the defensive side. This makes me feel a lower-scoring battle will be coming in this one Saturday.
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