North Carolina Tar Heels vs Louisville Cardinals Predictions, Picks, Odds, and NCAA Basketball Betting Preview – February 22 2020

The North Carolina Tar Heels are in a place they definitely want to get out of, but they probably have to wait for at least one more season to escape it. A win against the Louisville Cardinals (+1400 to win the 2020 Tournament) will be a welcome development for the Tar Heels nation. The Cardinals are also slumping of late. They are in a close fight with the Duke Blue Devils for the regular-season title in the Atlantic Coast Conference, so a win here will be huge for them.

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Betting Preview for the North Carolina Tar Heels vs Louisville Cardinals NCAA College Basketball Game on February 22 2020

Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville

When: Saturday, February 22, 2020, 4:00 PM ET

Line: North Carolina Tar Heels (Odds) vs. Louisville Cardinals (Odds) – view all 2020 NCAAB lines

TV Broadcast: ESPN

Betting on the North Carolina Tar Heels (10-15 Overall / 3-11 Conference)

These are not good times for North Carolina basketball fans. It’s one thing for the Tar Heels to lose to their archenemies Duke Blue Devils in heart-breaking fashion. It’s another to lose five games in a row, including a 74-57 loss in Winston-Salem to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and  64-62 defeat at home against the Virginia Cavaliers. The Tar Heels could not wait for this season to end and find a cure to their malaise, but before that and the showdown with Louisville, the Tar Heels will have to deal with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on the road this Monday. North Carolina lost to the Cavaliers despite shooting 50 percent from the field mainly because they turned the ball over 15 times, shot just 3 of 10 from deep, and allowed Virginia to hit nine 3-pointers. North Carolina got zero points from the bench, too. Louisville is one of the best–if not the best–teams in the ACC, and efforts like what North Carolina had shown in the loss to Virginia will most likely translate to a crushing loss if it was put together against the Cardinals. However, now seems to be the best time to play the Cards, who recently just lost to unranked teams in the form of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Clemson Tigers.

The Tar Heels are 4-1 against the spread (ATS) in their last five games against the Cardinals.

Betting on the Louisville Cardinals (21-5 Overall / 12-3 Conference)

The Cardinals are suddenly under a spell.  They are on a two-game losing skid, which they can stop when they host the visiting Syracuse Orange this Wednesday. In their loss to Clemson last Saturday, the Cardinals were held to only 34.8 percent shooting from the field, with their best player, Jordan Nwora scoring just five points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field despite seeing action for 29 minutes. The Cardinals are shooting 45.6 percent from the field this season, but were only 39.1 percent in their past three games. But a game against the spinning-out-of-control Tar Heels could be just what the Cards need to recover their shooting touch. The Tar Heels’ defense can still bite, but if teams like Wake Forest, Wofford Terriers can find a hole  on North Carolina and take advantage of it, a team like Louisville certainly could, too. The Card are 59th nationally with 74.8 points per game and 11th in KenPom’s offensive efficiency.

The Cardinals are 3-2 ATS in their last five home games against the Tar Heels, dating back to 1999.

Writer’s Prediction

Louisville wins, 74-67.

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