NC State Wolfpack (21-14) vs. North Carolina Tar Heels (27-6)
March 16, 2024 8:30 pm EDT
The Line: North Carolina Tar Heels -8.5; Over/Under:
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The NC State Wolfpack and the North Carolina Tar Heels meet Saturday in college basketball action from Capital One Arena. Let’s get into our NC State vs North Carolina prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
NC State Wolfpack
The Wolfpack managed a 17-10 run over their first 27 games of the year. The next four games were all losses to Florida State, North Carolina, Duke and Pittsburgh, though. NC State has since taken out Louisville, Syracuse, Duke and Virginia in a wild tournament run so far, though.
On Friday in the tournament matchup versus Virginia, NC State pulled off another victory—but this one was close. The Wolfpack scored 29 points in the first half, 29 in the second and 15 in overtime on the way to a 73-65 win. DJ Burns topped the team with his 19 points and five rebounds along the way.
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North Carolina Tar Heels
Over on the Tar Heels’ side, they only lost consecutive games once during the regular season. North Carolina had a spotty 2-3 run in February, then finished off the calendar with six straight wins. In their Thursday tournament opener, the Tar Heels took out Florida State 92-67.
Matched up against Pittsburgh on Friday in tourney activity, the Tar Heels were able to bag another victory. North Carolina was down by two points at halftime, then outscored the Panthers 39-30 from there in a 72-65 win. Leading team scorer RJ Davis put up 25 points with three rebounds and two assists.
ANDREW’S FREE NC STATE VS NORTH CAROLINA PREDICTION
I’ll likely lean toward North Carolina in this one. The Tar Heels started a little slowly against a surging Pitt team on Friday but everything worked out well after a nice second half. North Carolina wasn’t great from 3-point range (27.3 percent) or the line (73.7 percent) in that one, but the 44-34 rebounding edge and 38.5 percent shooting allowed helped propel the win. That makes 72 or more points scored in six straight games.
Back on March 2 when these teams last saw each other, North Carolina took a 79-70 win at home. The Tar Heels were down 45-37 at halftime in that one but ended up shooting 47.2 percent from the field with a 34-31 rebounding advantage in the end. This tournament rematch should be a fun one, and I like it to be close as well. In the end however I think the Tar Heels will control the game.
