Notre Dame vs North Carolina Preview & Betting Pick

The North Carolina Tar Heels (10-3 SU, 5-8 ATS) are 9-1 SU and 6-4 ATS in their last 10 games against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-5, 3-9). The Tar Heels will try to continue their strong recent play with another win over the Fighting Irish on Wednesday night.

north Carolina Tar Heels vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Date/Time: January 5, 9 p.m. ET
Stadium: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center
TV Coverage: ESPN 2
Sportsbook Odds: North Carolina -3 | O/U 147 (Line History)
North Carolina vs Notre Dame Matchup Report

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The Tar Heels opened as 3-point road favorites and have since been bet down a point to North Carolina -2. The total has seen more significant movement down to 144.5 points after Sportsbook at 147 points. The UNDER is 6-2 in Notre Dame’s last eight games against North Carolina.

North Carolina News & Notes

The Tar Heels kicked off 2022 in style with an impressive 91-65 road win over the Boston College Eagles as 8-point road favorites on Sunday night. Four different players scored at least 17 points, with Caleb Love leading the way with 22 and Armando Bacot (18), R.J. Davis (17) and Brady Manek (17) not far behind. Bacot also secured a double-double with 11 rebounds.

North Carolina’s offense ranks 39th in the nation, averaging 79.5 points per game. All four of the players mentioned above are averaging over 12.5 points per game this season. That scoring versatility has helped the Tar Heels compile a 7-1 SU and 5-3 ATS record over their last eight games and a perfect 9-0 SU record as a betting favorite this season.

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Notre Dame News & Notes

Paul Atkinson Jr. scored 16 points and eight rebounds in Notre Dame’s 68-67 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Panthers on December 28. Prentiss Hubb added 15 points and hit a 10-foot jumper with seven seconds left that gave the Fighting Irish the lead. The exciting victory gave Notre Dame its third straight win, though the team did fail to cover the spread as a 4-point road favorite.

With the ATS loss, Notre Dame fell to just 2-6 ATS over its last eight games. The team’s current three-game win streak was preceded by a 1-4 SU and ATS run that included losses as favorites to Boston College and Texas A&M.

The Fighting Irish will need to find more consistency on offense if they hope to produce better results in 2022 as they enter their first game of the new year ranked 248th in the nation with 70.1 points per game.

How North Carolina Will Cover

North Carolina’s offense has been significantly better than Notre Dame’s this season. With all four of its top scorers coming off big games in the team’s blowout win over Boston College, the Tar Heels just need more of the same Wednesday to earn the win and cover.

How Notre Dame Will Cover

Notre Dame’s recent 4-1 SU run has come in large part due to the Fighting Irish defense allowing only 63.6 points per game over that stretch. In the same way that they upset Kentucky in a low-scoring 66-62 game, the Fighting Irish must control the tempo at home here and get some key stops to cover the spread and earn an upset.