Duke Blue Devils vs North Carolina Tar Heels Prediction, 2/5/2022 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Duke Blue Devils vs North Carolina Tar Heels

Date: Saturday, February 5, 2022

Location: Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC

TV: ESPN

The Duke Blue Devils (18-3) are headed to Dean E. Smith Center on Saturday where they will try to beat the North Carolina Tar Heels (16-6).

The Duke Blue Devils faced Notre Dame and took home the win by a score of 57-43 in their last game. When talking about personal fouls, the Blue Devils walked away with 13 and Notre Dame accounted for 8 personal fouls. They also converted 3 out of their 18 tries from 3-point range. Notre Dame ended up going 66.7% at the free throw line by knocking down 6 of their 9 shots. Additionally, Notre Dame pulled down 33 rebounds (9 offensive, 24 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. Notre Dame dished out 8 dimes and had 7 steals in the game. In relation to defending, Duke allowed the other team to shoot 27.9% from the floor on 17 of 61 shooting. They also distributed 11 assists for the contest while forcing the other team into 11 turnovers and having 7 steals. When discussing rebounding, they earned 49 with 15 of them being offensive. At the free throw line, the Blue Devils converted 2 of 3 attempts for a rate of 66.7%. Duke ended the game having earned a 39.4% FG percentage (26 of 66) and made 3 out of their 19 shots from beyond the perimeter.

Paolo Banchero is someone who was a major contributor for the game. He scored 21 points on 10 of 22 shooting. He was on the hardwood for 30 minutes and collected 9 boards. He finished shooting 45.5% from the floor but had no assists when the game ended.

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Duke will play this game with a win-loss record of 18-3 for the campaign. They turn it over 10.5 times per contest and as a group they commit 13.7 personal fouls per contest. As a unit, Duke is pulling down 39.1 boards per game and has accounted for 368 dimes for the campaign, which is 14th in the nation in terms of passing. The Blue Devils are hitting 36.2% on shots from downtown (168 of 464) and 71.8% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 80.4 points per game (18th in Division 1) while hitting 48.3% from the field.

When they are on the defensive end, the Blue Devils are forcing their opponents into 12.8 turnovers on a nightly basis and they draw 16.2 personal fouls. They concede 29.5% from beyond the arc and they are 67th in the nation in PPG allowed (64.7). The Blue Devils defensively are giving up a field goal percentage of 39.9% (535 of 1,340) and they surrender 35.5 boards per contest as a group. They are currently ranked 197th in the country in giving up assists to the opposition with 263 relinquished on the season.

The last time they took the hardwood, the North Carolina Tar Heels got the victory with a final of 90-83 when they played Louisville. The Tar Heels pulled down 33 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive rebounds totaling 43 in this contest. They also turned the ball over 10 times, while getting 7 steals for this game. Louisville was called for 21 fouls in the matchup which took the Tar Heels to the charity stripe for 20 tries. They were able to bury 16 of the free throws for a rate of 80.0%. In relation to 3-point attempts, North Carolina converted 12 of 26 tries (46.2%). When the final whistle blew, the Tar Heels went 31 out of 71 from the floor which had them at 43.7%. The Tar Heels allowed Louisville to convert 28 of 70 tries from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 40.0% in this matchup. They finished 42.9% from behind the 3-point line by going 15 out of 35 and walked away from this one shooting 12 of 15 from the free throw line (80.0%). In the matter of rebounding, North Carolina permitted Louisville to collect 39 overall (10 offensive).

Armando Bacot ended up being a major contributor for the Tar Heels for this contest. He made 8 out of 15 for the matchup for a field goal percentage of 53.3%, and totaled 22 rebounds. He tallied 19 points in his 38 minutes on the hardwood and tallied 2 dimes in this contest.

North Carolina has a win-loss record of 16-6 so far this season. The Tar Heels are responsible for committing 14.8 fouls every game and they connect on 76.0% from the charity stripe. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 14.5 times per game (91st in D-1) and they are turning it over 11.8 times per contest. North Carolina has accounted for 1,728 pts on the campaign (78.5 per contest) and they snag 41.0 boards per game. As an offensive team, the Tar Heels are hitting on 45.3% from the field, which ranks them 113th in Division 1.

The North Carolina defense allows 33.8% on 3-pointers (178 of 526) and opponents are connecting on 71.3% of their foul shots. They surrender 13.0 assists and 32.4 boards on a nightly basis, ranking them 212th and 71st in those categories. The Tar Heels on defense are ranked 264th in college basketball in points per game surrendered with 72.0. They are forcing 9.5 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 42.9% from the field (184th in college basketball).

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Duke

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