North Carolina vs Purdue Odds, Lines, and Spread

• No. 18 North Carolina takes on No. 6 Purdue Saturday, at the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Of Tournament
• The Tar Heels are coming off a 94-83 victory at the College of Charleston
• See the current moneyline, point spread, and game total, plus predictions

The No. 18 North Carolina Tar Heels (3-0) continue their first season of the Hubert Davis Era away from Chapel Hill when they take on the No. 6 Purdue Boilermakers (3-0) Saturday, as part of the high-caliber Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament.

The tantalizing matchup gets underway from the Mohegan Sun Arena at 4pm ET and will be on ESPNW.

Davis’ team picked up a hard-fought 11-point victory on the road against the Charleston Cougars Tuesday, in a contest that saw Armando Bacot score a game-high 24 points and Caleb Love put up 22.

It was the second time each player has scored at least 20 points in a game this season. Meantime, points have not been an issue for Matt Painter’s group out of the gate. The Boilers have scored at least 90 points in three straight games for the first time in almost 21 years.

Now, Purdue enters this neutral site affair in New England as favorites against UNC.

North Carolina vs Purdue Odds

Odds as of November 19th, from FanDuel.

Key Matchup

A key matchup Saturday will be Bacot vs Trevion Williams. Purdue’s offense runs through Williams, an All-American candidate who was the national leader in percentage of teams’ shots taken and the second-highest used player in all of college hoops last season.

The 6-foot-10 senior passed the 1,000-point mark for his career this week — and he’s pretty good at distributing the ball, too.

Trevion Williams is the best passing big man in all of college basketball. And it’s not even close. pic.twitter.com/gBX9CaI6Ir

— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) November 17, 2021

The preseason All-Big Ten team honoree is off to a semi-quiet start this season — averaging 11.7 points per game after going for 15.5 points per outing in 2020-21. But remember, some of his best games came against Big Ten opponents, — scoring 28, 26 and 24 against Michigan State, Ohio State and Minnesota, respectively.

Armando Bacot is the first @UNC_Basketball player to post 24 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks in a game.

He and Rasheed Wallace are the only Tar Heels to total at least 23/12/6. Bacot previously did it against Oregon in 2019, and Wallace did it on Feb. 19, 1995, at Virginia.

— Pat James (@patjames24) November 17, 2021

Bacot has averaged 18 points and 9.3 rebounds so far this season, but it will be the junior’s defense on Williams that might be the difference Saturday.

He has 10 blocks and two steals after the first three games of the season. And since Bacot will likely be the primary defender on Williams, the Tar Heels will need him to carry over his strong defensive play from the first three games into their matchup against Purdue.

Tar Heels and Boilermakers Struggle on Defense

Purdue has been scoring in bunches (averaging 94.7 points) so far this season. But the defense has left something to be desired for Painter and his staff.

Against Bellarmine, the Boilermakers allowed the Knights’ starting backcourt to score a combined 28 points on 46% shooting. Similarly, the Boilers’ perimeter defense allowed 25 combined points from the Indiana State starting backcourt on 47% shooting and allowed the Wright State backcourt to combine for 38 points on 52% shooting. That simply is not sustainable with conference play looming. 

🎥: Highlights from the 94-83 win 🆚 College of Charleston 🗣#CarolinaFamily pic.twitter.com/W0x8Z4ULHM

— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) November 17, 2021

The Tar Heels also need to limit their turnovers if they want to pull off the upset. UNC has averaged 12 per game so far, with opponents scoring an average of 13 points off them.

Maximizing possessions will be critical for a team that is rated only 52nd overall (vs Purdue’s 4th-best rating) on KenPom.  UNC is 17th in offensive efficiency, but 106th in defensive efficiency.

UNC vs Purdue Best Bet

The Boilermakers have played on the second weekend in three of the last four NCAA Tournaments, with the one exception being last year’s stunning first-round overtime loss to North Texas.

But there’s a sense in West Lafayette this might be the season Purdue makes it’s deepest Big Dance run in over 40 years. That’s because of Williams, along with some other key players.

Well, the one thing about the @B1GMBBall I'm feeling very confident about: @BoilerBall is clearly the best team. The Boilermakers rocked Wright State 96-52. Trevion Williams 20/13. Zach Edey 18/12. Best big men combo in the country.

— Andy Katz (@TheAndyKatz) November 17, 2021

Sophmore center Zach Edey (18.7 ppg, 10.3 rpg) has been a real force while guard Jaden Ivey (15.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg) is developing into a real star. The 6-foot-4 guard from South Bend put up 27 in the victory over Indiana State.

Simply put, there are playmakers all over this lineup, with senior guard Sasha Stefanovic (13.7 ppg) also establishing himself as a sharpshooter so far.

If Purdue continues to play efficient offense (2nd-best, per KenPom), it shouldn’t have trouble dealing with UNC’s less-than-stifling defense.  This is a matchup of ranked teams, but Purdue is clearly superior.

Pick: Purdue -6 (-110)