Miami vs UNC CBB Picks
The Hurricanes had the pleasure of being the first ACC opponent for Syracuse and left the Carrier Dome with a loss but a respectable showing against the unbeaten Orange. [ad-4468020]
Miami Hurricanes (8-6) vs North Carolina Tar Heels (10-4)
Wednesday January 8
Dean Smith Center – Chapel Hill, NC
9:00PM
Moneyline: No moneyline currently listed
Spread: North Carolina -9.5
O/U: No total currently listed
Miami
This is not the same team that won this league last year and thus will be hard pressed to do much better in another tough road game at North Carolina. It is about as tough a start as any team has in the conference this season. Looking ahead it might be a while before they notch a victory unless they get an upset.
With all their significant contributors from last year’s team gone the Canes are turning to some familiar faces this season and asking for a lot more production. Leading scorer G Rion Brown is probably miscast in that role but they need him to take a lot of shots even if he is not all that efficient a scorer. Down low Donavan Kirk has returned from his exodus to DePaul and is leading the team in rebounds as a senior transfer.
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Miami covered against the Orange, in a super low scoring game where neither team broke 50 points. That is going to have to be their style because they just don’t have a lot of offensive talent. They have a top 15 defense though and have covered their last two lined game. They have some athletes just not a lot of talent this season.
North Carolina
The Tar Heels did another one of their Jekyll and Hyde deals by losing to Wake Forest on Sunday night. With all due to respect to WF they should have challenged but then lost politely. Now UNC is looking for their first ACC win before they get on the road up to Syracuse for what should be a good one. If they lose this one there will be a lot of pressure but that doesn’t seem very likely, especially at home.
It has been nice to see the emergence of PG Marcus Paige but they need to have some other players step up regularly if this team is going to be in the upper echelon of the ACC. The one player we are all waiting to break through is James Michael McAdoo but I don’t think he ever will. He is not that aggressive and he has terrible efficiency as a scorer, never breaking 50% shooting even though he plays mostly mid range and in. He isn’t even leading them in rebounds this season.
North Carolina has had some big wins in underdog roles covering both times this season but they are only 5-7 as a favourite and 4-5 ATS at home this season. Given that this team sometimes struggles to play tough this is not a great matchup for them. They should win but it could be ugly like when the Canes restricted Syracuse.
Spread Pick: Miami +9.5
O/U Pick:
Score Prediction:
