Wagner Seahawks vs North Carolina Tar Heels Prediction, 3/21/2024 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Wagner Seahawks vs North Carolina Tar Heels

Date: Thursday, March 21, 2024

Location: Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC

TV: CBS

Odds/Point Spread: Wagner (+26)

The Wagner Seahawks (17-15) are en route to Spectrum Center on Thursday where they will attempt to defeat the North Carolina Tar Heels (27-7) in the NCAA Tournament. Wagner opens as 26-point dogs. The betting total is set at 133.5.

The Wagner Seahawks faced off with Howard and walked away with a win by a score of 71-68 in their last game. Regarding fouls, the Seahawks walked away with 16 while Howard finished the game with 12 fouls. They also made 7 of their 24 attempts from beyond the perimeter. Howard finished the game shooting 81.0% at the charity stripe by making 17 of 21 attempts. Additionally, Howard snagged 27 rebounds (6 offensive, 21 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Howard earned 13 assists and had 5 steals in this game. In terms of defending, Wagner allowed the other team to shoot 38.6% from the field on 22 out of 57 shooting. They also doled out 16 assists for the matchup as well as forcing 7 turnovers and getting 5 steals. In the matter of hauling in boards, they compiled 27 with 3 of them being of the offensive sort. At the free throw line, the Seahawks converted 5 of 9 tries for a rate of 55.6%. Wagner walked away from the contest with a 52.7% field goal percentage (29 out of 55) and converted 8 of their 17 three-point attempts.

Melvin Council Jr. is a player who had an impact for this game. He accounted for 21 points on 10 of 18 shooting. He played 40 mins and grabbed 5 rebounds. He shot 55.6% from the floor and recorded 7 assists.

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Wagner heads into this one with a mark of 17-15 for the campaign. They are turning it over 9.9 times per contest and as a basketball team they are committing 15.4 fouls every game. As a unit, Wagner is snagging 36.2 boards per game and has accounted for 413 assists so far this year, which is 215th in D-1 in terms of passing the rock. The Seahawks are connecting on 32.6% on three-point attempts (231 of 709) and 70.7% from the free throw line. They are averaging 63.8 pts per game (353rd in D-1) while shooting 39.6% from the field.

Defensively, the Seahawks are able to force 11.2 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 14.0 fouls. They are conceding 29.5% on shots from downtown and they are ranked 7th in college hoops in points per game allowed (62.3). The Seahawks defense is allowing a FG percentage of 41.7% (720 of 1,726) and they surrender 35.0 rebounds per game as a team. They are 222nd in college hoops in allowing assists with 430 relinquished for the season.

For their last game, the North Carolina Tar Heels walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 84-76 against North Carolina State. In regard to rebounds, North Carolina permitted North Carolina State to pull down 31 in total (1 offensive). They finished 42.9% from beyond the perimeter by shooting 6 out of 14 and finished the game at 22 out of 29 at the charity stripe (75.9%). The Tar Heels permitted North Carolina State to knock down 28 of their 51 tries from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 54.9% for this game. At the conclusion of this game, the Tar Heels walked away from this one shooting 25 for 67 from the field which gave them a percentage of 37.3%. Pertaining to 3-pointers, North Carolina made 8 out of their 30 tries (26.7%). They were able to make 18 of the free throw attempts for a clip of 78.3%. North Carolina State had 18 fouls in the game which took the Tar Heels to the free throw line for a total of 23 attempts. They also coughed up the ball 8 times, while getting 6 steals in the matchup. The Tar Heels snagged 25 defensive boards and 8 offensive rebounds totaling 33 for the contest.

RJ Davis ended up having an impact for the Tar Heels in the game. He made 10 out of 26 in this matchup for a rate of 38.5%, and had 6 rebounds. He tallied 30 points in his 36 minutes on the hardwood and accounted for 5 dimes for the contest.

North Carolina has a win-loss record of 27-7 on the campaign. The Tar Heels are responsible for committing 16.6 fouls every game and they connect on 75.4% from the free throw line. They are dishing out assists 14.5 times per game (98th in college basketball) and they turn the ball over 10.3 times per game. North Carolina has scored 2,770 points on the campaign (81.5 per contest) and they snag 41.1 boards per contest. As an offensive team, the Tar Heels are shooting 44.9% from the field, which has them ranked 163rd in the nation.

The Tar Heels are ranked 123rd in college basketball in points per game surrendered with 70.2. They are forcing their opponents into 10.7 turnovers on a nightly basis and have allowed teams to shoot 40.7% from the floor (26th in college basketball). The North Carolina defense gives up 31.4% on 3-pointers (238 of 757) and their opponents are knocking down 74.4% of their shots from the charity stripe. They relinquish 10.2 assists and 33.7 rebounds per game, which ranks them 12th and 124th in college hoops.

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Wagner (+26)

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