Miami (FL) vs North Carolina Basketball Predictions, Picks and Preview

Coming off a tough loss at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils, the No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels aim a return to the win column when they host the streaking No. 11 Miami Hurricanes this Saturday. The Hurricanes are on a tear of late but a brutal schedule looms with four of their next five assignments being against ranked opponents. The winner of this matchup gains solo share of the top spot of the ACC

Read on for more about this game. You can also check out our preview of Purdue vs. Indiana.

March Madness News & Predictions

Miami (FL) Hurricanes vs. North Carolina Tar Heels Preview

Where: Dean Smith Center, Chapel Hill

When: Saturday, February 20, 1:00 PM ET

Line: Miami (FL) Hurricanes at North Carolina Tar Heels – view all NCAA Basketball lines

TV Broadcast: CBS

Betting on the Miami (FL) Hurricanes (21-4, 10-3 ACC)

It must be nice for the Hurricanes to get to the top of the ACC standings. By beating Virginia Tech 65-49 Wednesday, the Hurricanes didn’t just extend their win streak to five games. They also forced a tie atop the conference standings with North Carolina, which suffered a 74-73 loss to Duke.

Miami had a stranglehold on the Hokies’ offense, as Virginia Tech shot a season worst 29.6 percent from the field resulting in another season low in points. Miami’s defense has been a key factor to the success of Jim Larrañaga’s squad this season with the Hurricanes allowing just 65.4 points per game. They’ve been even better during their five-game run, wherein they let just 63.0 per contest.

The Tar Heels’ offense is of another level though and it presents a tough challenge for Miami. But so long as the Hurricanes slow down Brice Johnson or Marcus Paige, they should be able to keep in step with North Carolina.

In any case, Miami appears to have the offensive firepower to take advantage of North Carolina’s so-so defense that ranks just 144^th in the nation with 70.4 points surrendered per game. Sheldon McClellan, who had 11 points in the Virginia Tech game, is the Canes’ leading scorer with 16.1 points per game. Angel Rodriguez, on the other hand, provides 11.5 PPG, while dishing out 4.4 dimes per outing.

Miami is 4-1 ATS in its last five games.

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Betting on the North Carolina Tar Heels (21-5, 10-3 ACC)

Roy Williams and his boys don’t have much time to sulk following a bitter loss to rival Duke. And the best way to overcome that setback is by scoring a bounce-back victory this Saturday against Miami. While that’s going to be easier said than done, the Tar Heels sure do have the tools to take down the Canes.

For one, their offense has been stunning, as the Tar Heels are averaging 83.4 points per game and 117.7 points per 100 possessions according to KenPom.

As implied earlier, Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige have been the Tar Heels’ best offensive weapons. Johnson went berserk, albeit in a loss, against Duke, as he pumped out monster numbers of 29 points and 19 rebounds. He’s going to be a matchup problem tonight for Miami, so expect the senior forward to come up with another solid game. On the season, Johnson is averaging 16.9 PPG and 10.4 RPG.

Paige, however, wasn’t much of a factor to say the least against Duke, scoring just seven points on 2-for-10 shooting with three assists. He did have three blocks, but it’s his scoring that the Tar Heels are really looking for every game.

North Carolina is a terrific rebounding team and with Johnson and Kennedy Meeks mixing it up in the paint, the Tar Heels should be able to dominate the boards anew this Saturday. The Tar Heels are 12^th in the nation in offensive rebounds with 12.2 per game. For the record, Johnson, Meeks, and Justin Johnson have combined for 89 of the team’s 151 total putbacks thus far this season.