North Carolina vs Notre Dame 1/7/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-7) vs. North Carolina Tar Heels (10-5)
January 7, 2023 11:30 am EDT
The Line: North Carolina Tar Heels -12.5 / Notre Dame Fighting Irish +12.5 ; Over/Under: -
(Get latest betting odds)
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the North Carolina Tar Heels meet Saturday in college basketball action from Dean Smith Center. Notre Dame is currently 8-7 overall. The Irish lost to Boston College in their last game. As for North Carolina, they’re sitting at 9-5 after a win over Wake Forest. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Notre Dame started out the year at 7-3 overall through 10 games with losses to St. Bonaventure, Syracuse and Marquette. The Irish are 1-4 since then with losses to Georgia, Florida State, Miami and Boston College.
In the Boston College game on Tuesday, Notre Dame took a 38-34 advantage into the break. The Irish were outscored 36-25 from there and lost 70-63. Both Dane Goodwin and JJ Starling led the team on 16 points each.
Over on the North Carolina side, they posted a 6-4 run over their first 10, losing to Iowa State, Alabama, Indiana and Virginia Tech. The Tar Heels are 4-1 in their last five games with wins over the Citadel, Ohio State, Michigan and Wake Forest.
In the Wake Forest matchup on Wednesday, the Tar Heels were down by one point going into the second half. North Carolina hit a 51-41 run from there and won 88-79. RJ Davis led the way on 27 points, and Armando Bacot posted 21 points.
PICK: I’m probably sticking with North Carolina here. The Tar Heels are currently on a 5-1 run with a lone two-point loss to Pittsburgh mixed in there. North Carolina has taken on some very tough opponents already this year, and generally they’ve been competitive against the top-shelf national talent. As for Notre Dame, they’ve faced some tricky squads lately as well. The Irish haven’t made it past 65 points in five of their last six games however, so I don’t think they’ll keep up well enough to cover here.