North Carolina Tar Heels vs Duke Blue Devils Prediction, 3/9/2024 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: North Carolina Tar Heels vs Duke Blue Devils

Date: Saturday, March 9, 2024

Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, NC

TV: ESPN

The North Carolina Tar Heels (24-6) are en route to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday where they will take on the Duke Blue Devils (24-6).

The North Carolina Tar Heels played Notre Dame and walked away with a win by a score of 84-51 in their last game. North Carolina walked away from the contest having earned a 45.1% field goal percentage (32 out of 71) and converted 11 of their 29 shots from 3-point land. When they shot from the free throw line, the Tar Heels converted 9 of 15 attempts for a rate of 60.0%. In relation to grabbing boards, they compiled 45 with 14 of them being of the offensive sort. They also distributed 14 assists for this contest while forcing the opposition into 12 turnovers and having 6 steals. Pertaining to defense, North Carolina allowed the other team to go 30.5% from the field on 18 of 59 shooting. Notre Dame recorded 8 dimes and had 2 steals for the contest. In addition, Notre Dame grabbed 34 boards (10 offensive, 24 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. Notre Dame ended up shooting 62.5% from the free throw line by converting 10 of their 16 attempts. They also converted 5 of their 19 tries from beyond the arc. Concerning personal fouls, the Tar Heels ended up with 16 while Notre Dame accumulated 17 personal fouls.

RJ Davis is someone who came through for the matchup. He shot 60.0% from the floor and distributed 6 dimes. He was on the hardwood for 31 minutes and snagged 4 boards. He ended up scoring 22 points on 9 of 15 shooting.

Get all of our NCAA Basketball Best Bets Picks

North Carolina enters this contest with a record of 24-6 this year. They turn the ball over 10.3 times per game and as a team are committing 16.8 fouls every game. As a unit, North Carolina is grabbing 41.0 rebounds per contest and has accounted for 431 assists for the campaign, which ranks 112th in the nation in terms of passing the ball. The Tar Heels are connecting on 35.6% on three-point shots (241 of 677) and 75.0% from the free throw line. They currently have an average of 81.5 points per outing (26th in D-1) while hitting 44.8% from the field.

When they are on the defensive end, the Tar Heels are forcing 11.0 turnovers per contest and they draw 19.0 fouls. They are surrendering 31.0% from beyond the arc and they are ranked 115th in the nation in opponents PPG (69.8). The Tar Heels defensively are giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 40.3% (750 of 1,860) and they concede 34.3 boards per game as a squad. They rank 12th in college basketball in allowing assists to their opponents with 304 conceded for the campaign.

For their last game, the Duke Blue Devils got the victory with a final of 79-64 when they faced North Carolina State. The Blue Devils were able to pull down 15 defensive boards and 17 offensive boards totaling 32 for this game. They also turned it over 4 times, while recording 6 steals in this game. North Carolina State had 7 fouls in the game which got the Blue Devils to the free throw line for a total of 9 tries. They were able to convert 6 of those for a rate of 66.7%. When talking about shots from 3-point land, Duke buried 9 of 30 attempts (30.0%). At the conclusion of this game, the Blue Devils finished 32 out of 68 from the floor which gave them a rate of 47.1%. The Blue Devils permitted North Carolina State to make 27 of 56 tries from the field which left them with a shooting percentage of 48.2% for the contest. They finished 33.3% from 3-point land by shooting 3 out of 9 and ended up going 7 out of 14 at the free throw line (50.0%). Concerning rebounding, Duke permitted North Carolina State to collect 28 in total (11 on the offensive glass).

Jeremy Roach pitched in for the Blue Devils for the matchup. He tallied 21 points in his 36 minutes on the court and had 2 dimes for this game. He made 9 of 17 for the game for a field goal percentage of 52.9%, and added 4 rebounds.

Duke has a win-loss mark of 24-6 for the campaign. When it comes to offensive execution, the Blue Devils are hitting on 48.5% from the field, which is 22nd in Division 1. Duke has scored 2,407 pts for the campaign (80.2 per game) and they pull in 36.7 rebounds per game. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 15.6 times per contest (46th in Division 1) and they are turning it over 9.8 times per contest. The Blue Devils commit 15.7 personal fouls every game and they connect on 72.4% from the free throw line.

The Duke defense surrenders 31.9% on shots from behind the 3-point line (199 of 623) and their opponents are making 69.0% of their free throw shots. They have conceded 12.7 dimes and 31.2 boards per game, which is ranked 157th and 19th in college hoops. The Blue Devils defensively are ranked 47th in college hoops in points allowed per contest with 66.7. They are forcing their opponents into 11.5 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 42.9% from the field (134th in Division 1).

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take North Carolina

Get $60 worth of FREE premium member picks. No Obligation. No Salesman. No Credit Card. Fast Sign up with Instant Access Click Here