North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Tulane Green Wave Preview
Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans
When: Thursday, November 11, 9:00 PM ET
Line: North Carolina Tar Heels (TBA) vs. Tulane Green Wave (TBA) – view all NCAAB lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
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Betting on the North Carolina Tar Heels
It wasn’t long ago when the Tar Heels got shelled by a buzzer-beating trey by Villanova to lose the national title game but here comes another season for North Carolina to redeem itself. Everything begins again for the team later tonight, as the Tar Heels square off with mid-major program Tulane.
While North Carolina lost some key players in Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson, the Tar Heels shouldn’t feel their absences that much against a team like Tulane, which finished last in the American conference last season.
Furthermore, the returning talents and new recruits forms a solid group for North Carolina, which was first in scoring in ACC last year with 82.3 points per game on 47.9 percent shooting from the field. Top returnees are Justin Jackson, Joel Berry II, and Kennedy Meeks. Jackson finished last season with an average of 12.6 PPG, while Jackson had a 12.8 PPG mark. Meeks should be able to punish Tulane’s interior defense that allowed opponents to shoot 56.1 percent at the rim in 2015.
There shouldn’t be an element of surprise for Tulane heading into this game as North Carolina beat the Green Wave just last season, 96-72, with Berry and Jackson combining for 25 points and 14 assists.
North Carolina is +1,800 to win the national title.
Betting on the Tulane Green Wave
As mentioned earlier, Tulane was dead last in the American conference last season. To help the Green Wave recover from such a catastrophic campaign, they hired former Mike Dunleavy to coach the team.
All of Dunleavy’s 17-year coaching experience in the NBA should come in handy, but he also needs to have patience as Tulane isn’t expected to progress that much this season. After all, they didn’t just lose their top scorer from last season, Louis Dabney, to graduation, they also saw 2015 top rebounder, Dylan Osetkowsk, transfer to Texas.
Tulane’s chances of beating North Carolina are slim but the Green Wave covering the spread is much closer to reality. But first, they’re going to need Malik Morgan to heat up on offense. Morgan was second to Dabney on the team in scoring with 12.2 PPG. That’s bound to improve with Dabney gone. Morgan scored 12 points on 6-for-11 shooting in last season’s loss to North Carolina.
Freshman and point guard Colin Slater is eyeing to bring life to the team’s poor ball movement. Tulane was 10th in the 11-team American conference last season in assists with just 10.9 dimes per game.
Writer’s Prediction
North Carolina wins, 85-62.
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