College Basketball Betting – (19) UNC at (3) Virginia
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
(19) North Carolina Tar Heels at (3) Virginia Cavaliers (-3.5, 121.5 o/u)
After knocking off No. 14 Louisville in the quarters, No. 19 North Carolina (23-10, 11-7 ACC) will meet No. 3 Virginia (29-2, 16-2 ACC) in the semis of the ACC conference tournament tonight (7:00 PM Eastern at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina).
The Tar Heels downed Cardinals 70-60 yesterday, coming from five down at the break. North Carolina forward Brice Johnson scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, helping his team cover as three-point favorites. Point guard Marcus Paige added 13 points, four assists, and four steals as the Tar Heels beat Louisville for the second time this year.
Yesterday’s win was the first time the Tar Heels have beaten a higher seeded team in the ACC tournament with Roy Williams as coach.
The Tar Heels also picked up an 81-63 win over Boston College on Wednesday in the second round of the tournament, meaning today’s game will be their third in three days.
Virginia, who lost to the Cardinals in their last regular season game, took care of Florida State in the ACC quarterfinals, 58-44, yesterday.
The team got production from some unlikely sources as Mike Tobey (7.6 PPG) and Evan Nolte (2.9 PPG) scored 11 each. The Cavaliers covered as 13.5-point favorites.
Today’s game will be the second of the year between the squads. North Carolina lost to Virginia 75-64 at home back on February 2. Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon torched UNC for 16Â points on 60-percent shooting, while adding seven dimes. It was the first time the Cavs beat a ranked Tar Heels squad in Chapel Hill since 1981.
“They kicked our rear ends,” coach Williams said back in February. “That’s the bottom line.”
With respect to March Madness, both teams will be going to the tourney no matter what happens today. But Virginia has designs on a No. 1 and likely need to reach the finals (at least) of the ACC tournament to get it. Meanwhile, ESPN currently has UNC as a No. 5 seed. A win today would almost certainly vault them into a top-four spot.
Virginia has covered the spread in four of the last five against North Carolina. The Cavaliers are currently three-point favorites with the over/under sitting at 121.5. The Tar Heels are playing some of their best basketball of the season right now, but may be exhausted, playing for the third night in a row. The Wahoos less the points (-3) looks like the better option.
(Photo credit: Triple Tri (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
