North Carolina Tar Heels vs Miami Hurricanes Prediction, 1/5/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: North Carolina Tar Heels vs Miami Hurricanes

Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Location: Watsco Center in Coral Gables, FL

TV: ESPN

Odds/Point Spread: North Carolina (-4)

Watsco Center is the site where and the Miami Hurricanes (4-4) will play the North Carolina Tar Heels (6-4) on Tuesday. North Carolina opens this game as 4-point favorites. The total opens at 144.5.

North Carolina heads into this one with a record of 6-4 this season. The Tar Heels are shooting 28.7% on 3-point shots (47 of 164) and 67.1% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 72.8 points per outing (175th in the country) while hitting 42.6% from the field. They are turning it over 15.4 times per game and as a squad they are committing 17.3 fouls every game. As a unit, North Carolina is pulling in 44.8 boards per contest and has accounted for 136 dimes this year, which is 95th in the country in terms of passing the rock. Defensively, the Tar Heels have forced 13.5 turnovers every game and they draw 20.6 fouls. They rank 258th in Division 1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 128 surrendered on the campaign. The Tar Heels defense is allowing and opponent field goal percentage of 42.5% (251 of 590) and they surrender 31.5 rebounds per contest as a group. They give up 35.8% from 3-point land and they are 146th in college basketball in PPG allowed (68.2).

The North Carolina Tar Heels took the court against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and earned the victory with a final of 66-65 in their last game. North Carolina ended having earned a 34.8% field goal percentage (24 of 69) and made 8 of 23 shots from distance. From the free throw line, the Tar Heels made 10 of their 14 tries for a rate of 71.4%. Regarding getting rebounds, they earned a total of 44 with 20 of them being of the offensive sort. They also recorded 15 assists for the game in addition to having 4 steals and 2 blocked shots. With regard to defense, North Carolina allowed their opponent to shoot 34.8% from the floor on 24 out of 69 shooting. Notre Dame totaled 17 dimes and had 5 steals in this game. Furthurmore, the Fighting Irish snagged 25 boards (3 offensive, 22 defensive) and got 2 rejections. Notre Dame walked away from this one shooting 33.3% from the free throw line by knocking down 2 of their 6 tries. They also made 11 of 30 shots from downtown.

Day'Ron Sharpe is a guy who played a role for this contest. He ended up finishing with 25 points on 9 out of 19 shooting. He was on the court for 29 minutes and also totaled 9 rebounds. Sharpe shot 47.4% from the field and also totaled 2 assists. One more player that was a major contributor in the matchup for the Tar Heels was Kerwin Walton. He collected 2 rebounds and also had 3 dimes. He shot 50.0% from the field for the matchup via 4-of-8 (12 points). When this game wrapped up, Walton played for 27 min.

Miami has a record of 4-4 this year. On the offensive side of the court, the Hurricanes are connecting on 43.7% from the floor, which has them ranked 207th in the country. Miami has accounted for 550 points on the year (68.8 per contest) and they collect 39.9 boards per contest. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 13.6 times per contest (180th in college basketball) and they lose possession by turning the ball over 14.8 times per game. The Hurricanes commit 14.8 fouls per game and they go 66.9% from the charity stripe. The Hurricanes on defense are ranked 75th in D-1 in points given up per game with 64.9. They are able to force 13.6 turnovers per game and have allowed teams to shoot 40.4% from the field (88th in D-1). The Miami defense gives up 34.9% on three-point shots (75 of 215) and opponents are converting on 62.5% of their shots from the charity stripe. They relinquish 14.9 dimes and 32.0 boards every game, which has them ranked 273rd and 69th in the nation.

The last time they took the court, the Miami Hurricanes walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 66-65 when they faced the Clemson Tigers. The Hurricanes were able to corral 24 defensive boards and 7 offensive boards for a total of 31 in the matchup. They rejected 3 attempts while getting 7 steals for the game. The Tigers committed 19 fouls in this game which took the Hurricanes to the free throw line for a total of 18 attempts. They were able to bury 12 of them for a percentage of 66.7%. With respect to shots from downtown, Miami made 7 of their 17 attempts (41.2%). When the final whistle blew, the Hurricanes ended up shooting 23 out of 49 from the floor which gave them a rate of 46.9%. The Hurricanes permitted the Tigers to make 26 of their 59 tries from the field which had them at 44.1% for the matchup. They went 42.9% from 3-point land by shooting 9 of 21 and walked away from this one shooting 5 of 7 from the free throw line (71.4%). In the matter of how they attacked the glass, Miami permitted Clemson to snag 25 in total (6 on the offensive glass).

Isaiah Wong ended up being a factor for the Hurricanes for this game. He knocked down 3 of 8 in this game for a field goal percentage of 37.5%, which had him sitting at 13 points. Wong totaled 5 rebounds in his 36 minutes and totaled 4 assists in the game. An additional guy who was a determining factor for Miami was Earl Timberlake. He left the arena with 11 points in his 26 minutes played by going 5 out of 8 shooting for the contest. Timberlake wrapped this one up going 62.5% from the floor as well as totaling 2 assists and 8 total rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take North Carolina (-4)

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