North Carolina Tar Heels (12-7 SU, 5-11 ATS) at North Carolina State Wolfpack (13-7 SU, 10-7-1 ATS)

Tuesday, January 26: 9:00

Here are some NCAA Betting Trends which may impact this game:
North Carolina: 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games
North Carolina: 1-4 SU in their last 5 games
North Carolina: Total has gone UNDER in their last 4 games
NC State: 3-1 ATS in their last 4 games
NC State: Total has gone OVER in their last 5 games

For the first time in what seems like a lifetime, the North Carolina Tar Heels aren’t ranked in college basketball’s top 25. It’ll be an uphill battle for them to make the NCAA Tournament at this point, but if they do, it’ll start Tuesday at NC State.

The biggest problem for the Tar Heels has been inconsistency from their guards. For example, point guard Larry Drew is the ACC’s top assist man, averaging 6.4 per game. On paper that looks all well and good, except that he also averages 3.3 turnovers a contest as well. The Tar Heels other primary ball-handler, Marcus Ginyard averages over two turnovers per game. And power forward Ed Davis averages close to two himself. Simply put, when three guys who play as many minutes as these three do, turn the ball over the way they do, the Tar Heels inevitably find themselves in a lot of trouble.

Which makes this stat even more amazing: Despite all the turnovers and blunders from their guards, they still average over 82 points per game, which ranks 12th in college basketball. Deon Thompson is this teams leading scorer at over 14 points per game, with Davis chipping in 14 as well.

As for the North Carolina State Wolfpack, well, they may be an even more perplexing team that North Carolina. Which is saying something.
On the season, the Wolfpack find themselves at 13-7 overall and just 2-4 in ACC play. Yet they are coming off a dominating win over No. 8 Duke less than a week ago, beating them 88-74 in a game that really wasn’t even as close as the final score would indicate. Of course they followed that up with a 24 point loss at Maryland on Saturday. Overall, NC State has lost four of their last seven games, and three of their last five at home.

So who’ve you got in this game? While logical wisdom might say to stay away, I like the Wolfpack. The simple fact is that we keep waiting and waiting for the Tar Heels to figure out their problems, and it doesn’t matter what coach Roy Williams does, they continue to struggle.

They’ve lost three of their last four games, including a stunning loss at the College of Charleston. And while NC State is hardly a world beater, they’ll be at home in front of a raucous crowd at the Reynolds Coliseum, which definitely helped them against Duke a week ago.

North Carolina has yet to win a true road game all year, and don’t expect that trend to change Tuesday night.
Take North Carolina State in the college basketball betting odds.

College Basketball Free Pick: North Carolina State by 5