#8 North Carolina Tar Heels (15-3) vs Virginia Tech Hokies (11-6)
The North Carolina Tar Heel are looking to recover from one of the worst drubbings of a top team in recent memory.
Thursday January 19th
Cassell Coliseum – Blacksburg, VA
9:00PM
Moneyline:
Spread: North Carolina -6
O/U: 143
North Carolina
They were beaten badly in every phase of the game at Florida State on Saturday and at the end of the game coach Roy Williams pulled everybody but his walk-ons off to court. I didn’t like the move one bit. Still this team may be the class of a weak ACC this year. On paper they certainly are and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them not lose a game the rest of the season.
Their opponents this week will hope their funk might just extend another week.
At FSU, North Carolina experienced an epic fail and revealed that this team, while talented, doesn’t seem to have much heart. They might have been done in by a wicked shooting day by the Seminoles but nothing excuses them missing more free thrown than they made. When these two teams met last year UNC won, barely, at home by three when they were also the far more talented squad. This year they hit the road to face the Hokies, and they are just 1-2 on the road for the season. Whose going to step up and make sure they play the way they can this week? Nobody is sure.
Virginia Tech
The Virginia Tech Hokies were solid in the non-conference schedule but have gotten off to a disastrous start in ACC play.. As they host North Carolina they have yet to win a league game even though they were favoured in all three contests. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Those losses to Wake Forest and Boston College are really going to cost them when it comes time to compare resumes in March. If they can be strong over their next five games against UNC, Virginia, Maryland, Duke and BYU they may be able to work their way back into the conversation for an at large bid.
Even though they have been struggling this team still has some upside. They generally compete hard and even though he is slight of build freshman forward Dorian Finney-Smith is proving to be an effective player averaging 8 rebounds per game. He just has to work on his shooting and shot selection. He is currently hitting just 34% of his field goals which won’t cut it for a guy who is second on the team in minutes. If he can get to a respectable 45% he might become a double-double threat nightly. It will be interesting to see who looks skinnier out there, him or Tar Heel beanpole John Henson.
Spread Pick: North Carolina -6
O/U Pick: Under
Score Prediction: North Carolina 74 – Virginia Tech 63
