North Carolina Tar Heels vs Louisville Cardinals Prediction, 1/14/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: North Carolina Tar Heels vs Louisville Cardinals

Date: Saturday, January 14, 2023

Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY

TV: ESPN

The North Carolina Tar Heels (11-6) are hitting the road to KFC Yum! Center on Saturday where they will go up against the Louisville Cardinals (2-14).

The North Carolina Tar Heels faced Virginia and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 65-58 in their last contest. When it comes to fouls, the Tar Heels ended up finishing with 19 and Virginia totaled 12 fouls. They made 6 of 19 tries from long range. Virginia shot 57.9% from the free throw line by converting 11 of their 19 tries. In addition, Virginia collected 30 rebounds (5 offensive, 25 defensive), but didn't notch a rejection. Virginia recorded 11 dimes and had 9 steals for the game. In the matter of the defense, North Carolina allowed 46.2% from the field on 24 of 52 shooting. They also doled out 9 assists in this game while forcing the other team into 7 turnovers and earning 5 steals. When it comes to hauling in boards, they collected 30 with 6 of them being on the offensive end. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Tar Heels knocked down 8 of their 12 attempts for a percentage of 66.7%. North Carolina wrapped up the contest with a 39.6% field goal percentage (21 of 53) and buried 8 out of their 24 shots from downtown.

RJ Davis is one player who played a role for this contest. He shot 50.0% from the field and totaled 1 assist. He played 35 minutes and grabbed 3 boards. He totaled 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting.

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North Carolina comes into this contest with a record of 11-6 so far this year. They average 80.0 points per outing (32nd in the country) while connecting on 45.9% from the field. The Tar Heels are connecting on 32.0% on shots beyond the perimeter (115 of 359) and 73.3% from the charity stripe. As a team, North Carolina is pulling in 39.5 boards per game and is sitting with 223 dimes this season, which is 182nd in college basketball in terms of passing the ball. They turn it over 11.4 times per game and as a unit are committing 16.8 fouls every game.

On the defensive end of the court, the Tar Heels are forcing 11.5 turnovers per contest while drawing 20.1 fouls. They are surrendering 34.7% from beyond the arc and they are 301st in college basketball in opponents points per game (73.7). The Tar Heels defense is giving up and opponent field goal percentage of 43.5% (472 of 1,085) and they concede 35.1 boards per contest as a squad. They are currently ranked 244th in college basketball in giving up assists to the opposition with 223 surrendered so far this season.

The last time they took the hardwood, the Louisville Cardinals went home defeated by a final of 80-72 when they played Wake Forest. When discussing how they attacked the glass, Louisville allowed Wake Forest to collect 30 in total (7 on the offensive glass). They finished shooting 40.6% from 3-point land by shooting 13 of 32 and finished the game at 9 of 14 at the free throw line (64.3%). The Cardinals permitted Wake Forest to make 29 of 55 tries from the field which had them at 52.7% for the contest. When the final whistle was blown, the Cardinals ended up shooting 26 out of 59 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 44.1%. With respect to 3-pointers, Louisville knocked down 9 of 28 tries (32.1%). They were able to make 11 of the free throws for a clip of 55.0%. Wake Forest was called for 21 personal fouls in the matchup which took the Cardinals to the free throw line for a total of 20 attempts. They also coughed it up 12 times, while earning 5 steals in this contest. The Cardinals were able to corral 21 defensive rebounds and 14 offensive rebounds totaling 35 in the game.

Michael James pitched in for the Cardinals for the matchup. He accumulated 24 points in his 32 mins of playing time, but didn't record an assist. He buried 9 out of 16 for this game giving him a rate of 56.3%, and tallied 8 rebounds.

Louisville has a mark of 2-14 this year. The Cardinals have committed 16.2 fouls per game and they hit 71.4% from the charity stripe. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 9.0 times per game (363rd in the country) and they turn it over 16.7 times per contest. Louisville has totaled 1,002 points this season (62.6 per contest) and they collect 32.3 boards per game. When it comes to offensive execution, the Cardinals are shooting 40.9% from the field, which is ranked 331st in Division 1.

The Cardinals on the defensive side of the court are 315th in D-1 in PPG surrendered with 74.4. They are able to force 12.4 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 47.2% from the field (348th in the country). The Louisville defense allows 34.6% on shots from behind the 3-point line (121 of 350) and their opposition knocks down 68.4% of their foul shots. They surrender 14.0 assists and 34.4 boards every game, which is 275th and 202nd in those categories.

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Louisville

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