Alabama Crimson Tide vs North Carolina Tar Heels Prediction, 3/28/2024 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Alabama Crimson Tide vs North Carolina Tar Heels

Date: Thursday, March 28, 2024

Location: crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA

TV: CBS

Odds/Point Spread: Alabama (+5)

The Alabama Crimson Tide (23-11) are headed to crypto.com Arena on Thursday where they will try to beat the North Carolina Tar Heels (29-7) in the Sweet 16. Alabama opens as 5-point underdogs. The total is 173.5.

The Alabama Crimson Tide faced Grand Canyon and earned the victory with a final of 72-61 in their last game. Alabama finished the game with a 36.9% field goal percentage (24 of 65) and made 8 of 31 3-point attempts. When they shot from the free throw line, the Crimson Tide buried 16 of their 22 shots for a rate of 72.7%. Regarding rebounding, they earned a total of 44 with 15 of them being offensive. They also recorded 13 assists for the contest as well as forcing 13 turnovers and earning 10 steals. In terms of the defense, Alabama allowed their opponent to shoot 32.1% from the floor on 18 out of 56 shooting. Grand Canyon doled out 5 dimes and had 10 steals in this game. Furthermore, Grand Canyon pulled down 36 boards (12 offensive, 24 defensive), but didn't notch a rejection. Grand Canyon went 62.2% from the free throw line by knocking down 23 of their 37 tries. They also knocked down 2 of 20 tries from distance. Regarding personal fouls, the Crimson Tide walked away with 26 and Grand Canyon accounted for 21 personal fouls.

Mark Sears is a player who was a contributor for the matchup. He finished the game at 44.4% from the field and dished out 6 assists. He saw the court for 39 mins played and also collected 12 rebounds. He ended up with 26 points on 8 out of 18 shooting.

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Alabama will enter this game with a win-loss mark of 23-11 on the year. They lose possession by turning the ball over 12.0 times per game and as a squad are committing 20.1 fouls every game. As a team, Alabama is snagging 39.7 rebounds per contest and has totaled 545 dimes so far this year, which has them ranked 32nd in the nation in terms of passing the ball. The Crimson Tide are connecting on 36.7% on shots from downtown (375 of 1023) and 77.6% from the free throw line. They are averaging 90.7 points per contest (1st in D-1) while hitting 47.7% from the field.

On defense, the Crimson Tide are able to force 11.7 turnovers per contest and they draw 20.1 fouls. They are 176th in D-1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 420 conceded on the campaign. The Crimson Tide defense is allowing and opponent field goal percentage of 43.6% (934 of 2,142) and they relinquish 35.5 rebounds per game as a unit. They give up 31.3% on 3-point shots and they are 355th in Division 1 in points per game allowed (80.9).

For their last game, the North Carolina Tar Heels walked away with a victory by a final of 85-69 against Michigan State. The Tar Heels were able to pull down 24 defensive rebounds and 5 offensive boards totaling 29 for the matchup. They gave up possession of the ball 5 times, while earning 5 steals in this matchup. Michigan State earned 20 fouls in this matchup which got the Tar Heels to the charity stripe for a total of 23 tries. They were able to bury 19 of those for a rate of 82.6%. When talking about shots from beyond the arc, North Carolina knocked down 10 of 26 tries (38.5%). When the final whistle blew, the Tar Heels finished shooting 28 for 60 from the field which had them at 46.7%. The Tar Heels permitted Michigan State to make 26 of 59 attempts from the field which had them shooting 44.1% in this game. They went 37.5% from three-point range by shooting 6 out of 16 and walked away from this one shooting 11 out of 15 from the free throw line (73.3%). In regard to rebounding, North Carolina allowed Michigan State to collect 31 overall (6 on the offensive side).

RJ Davis ended up having an impact for the Tar Heels for this contest. He scored 20 points in his 34 minutes on the court and had 1 assist in the game. He knocked down 7 out of 15 for the contest for a rate of 46.7%, and accounted for 1 rebound.

North Carolina has a mark of 29-7 so far this year. The Tar Heels are committing 16.5 fouls every game and they shoot 75.6% from the charity stripe. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 14.4 times per contest (102nd in the country) and they are losing possession via turnover 10.1 times per contest. North Carolina has tallied 2,945 pts so far this year (81.8 per contest) and they collect 40.9 rebounds per game. As an offensive team, the Tar Heels are connecting on 45.3% from the floor, which is 127th in college basketball.

The North Carolina defense allows 31.7% on three-point shots (251 of 791) and their opposition knocks down 74.0% of their shots from the free throw line. They give up 10.0 assists and 33.5 rebounds every game, which has them ranked 10th and 108th in those categories on the defensive end. The Tar Heels defensively are ranked 114th in college basketball in PPG allowed with 70.0. They are able to force 10.6 turnovers per game and have let teams shoot 40.8% from the floor (27th in D-1).

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Alabama (+5)

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