
North Carolina vs Boston College Prediction 1/25/25 Basketball Picks Today
Boston College (9-10) vs. North Carolina (12-8)
January 25, 2025 2:15 pm EDT
The Line: North Carolina -18.5; Over/Under: 150.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Boston College Eagles and the North Carolina Tar Heels meet Saturday in college basketball action from Dean Smith Center. Here’s a North Carolina vs Boston College prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best North Carolina vs Boston College pick.
Boston College Eagles Betting Preview
Boston College posted a pretty good run out of the gate this year. The Eagles would quickly fall on hard times however, and they’ve only been able to put together one decent (and brief) run since late November. Boston College beat the Citadel, Temple, Loyola Maryland, Old Dominion, Missouri State and Boise State (with a loss to VCU) during a 6-1 opening. A 1-4 stretch ensued with losses to Dartmouth, South Carolina, Wake Forest and SMU amid a lone win over Stonehill. Following two wins over Fairleigh Dickinson and Miami, Boston College has since lost consecutive outings versus Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Duke and Virginia, giving the team a sub-.500 run at 9-10 through the first 19 games of the season so far.
In the Virginia matchup on Tuesday, the Eagles came out of the break looking up at a 41-23 deficit on the scoreboard. Boston College kept the pace from there on a 33-33 run and ended up taking the loss 74-56. Tops on the team was Fredy Payne, who notched 17 points, three steals and one assist in 29 minutes off the bench during the loss. Chad Venning put up 14 points with five boards to lead the starters, and Dion Brown had 11 points with six boards.
North Carolina Tar Heels Betting Preview
Over on the North Carolina side, they entered the season on a shaky .500 run through their first eight games. The Tar Heels have gotten better since then however, with only one instance of consecutive losses after December 4. UNC went 4-4 to start out, falling to Kansas, Auburn, Michigan State and Alabama with wins over Elon, American U, Hawaii and Dayton in those first eight outings. A 4-1 run came next with a lone loss to Florida amid wins over Georgia Tech, La Salle, UCLA and Campbell. Following another loss to Louisville, North Carolina beat Notre Dame, SMU, NC State and California. Since then it’s been a pair of consecutive losses to Stanford and Wake Forest, giving the Tar Heels a 12-8 overall run so far this year.
Matched up against Wake Forest on Tuesday, the Tar Heels went into the break sporting a 31-29 edge. North Carolina was outscored 38-35 the rest of the way however, giving the team a tough loss 67-66 in the end. Leading the scoring for UNC was RJ Davis with 21 points, two steals and one assist. Elliot Cadeau doubled up with 14 points, 13 assists, five rebounds and two steals. Leading the bench players was Van-Allen Lubin with six points and seven boards.
Why the North Carolina Tar Heels will win
- North Carolina has won 20 of its last 21 day games at Dean E. Smith Center.
- Boston College has lost eight of its last nine games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
- North Carolina has won the first half in each of its last nine games at Dean E. Smith Center against non-AP-ranked opponents.
North Carolina vs Boston College Prediction
I’m going to stay with the Tar Heels, but realistically the line’s too thick to mess with. UNC has had a couple of bad one-point losses in their last pair, most recently on the road versus Wake Forest. North Carolina shot just 40 percent from the field in that one and got outmuscled on the boards 41-33 alongside 12 turnovers for 11 Deacons points. The four missed free throws (out of 10 total) ended up being very costly. All in all, that gives UNC a 4-2 run over the last six games, with the two losses each coming by a single point. This is a good matchup for stopping the bleeding in the record column, though.
As for Boston College, they were pretty rough the whole game versus a middling Virginia squad in their last outing. The Eagles were out-rebounded 30-23 and had 15 turnovers for 11 Cavaliers points. Boston College has given up 74 or more points in five straight games, so UNC shouldn’t have too many issues putting up points on Saturday.