SMU Mustangs vs North Carolina Tar Heels Prediction, 1/7/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: SMU Mustangs vs North Carolina Tar Heels

Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2025

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

TV: ESPN+

The SMU Mustangs (11-3) are en route to Dean E. Smith Center on Tuesday where they will take on the North Carolina Tar Heels (9-6).

The SMU Mustangs played Duke and took a loss by a score of 89-62 in their last contest. SMU ended the game with a 34.3% FG percentage (23 of 67) and buried 5 of 21 shots from downtown. At the charity stripe, the Mustangs converted 11 of their 25 shots for a rate of 44.0%. In terms of grabbing rebounds, they earned 33 with 14 of them being of the offensive sort. They also recorded 14 assists in this game while forcing the opposition into 7 turnovers and getting 2 steals. In relation to defense, SMU allowed the other team to shoot 53.2% from the floor on 33 out of 62 shooting. Duke totaled 22 dimes and had 3 steals in the matchup. On top of that, Duke had 40 rebounds (9 offensive, 31 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Duke finished the game at 75.0% from the charity stripe by knocking down 12 of 16 tries. They also converted 11 of their 27 tries from 3-point land. With respect to personal fouls, the Mustangs ended up walking away with 13 while Duke totaled 19 personal fouls.

Kevin Miller is someone who was a major factor for the contest. He left the arena with 21 points on 8 of 18 shooting. He was on the court for 36 minutes and totaled 2 rebounds. He shot 44.4% from the floor and also totaled 5 assists.

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SMU enters this one with a win-loss mark of 11-3 on the campaign. They are turning it over 11.8 times per game and as a team are committing 16.9 fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, SMU is pulling in 40.9 rebounds per contest and has tallied 228 assists for the year, which ranks 111th in the country in terms of passing the ball. The Mustangs are shooting 38.0% on shots from 3-point land (113 of 297) and 72.7% from the free throw line. They have an average of 85.4 points per contest (19th in Division 1) while shooting 48.4% from the floor.

On the defensive end, the Mustangs have forced 12.9 turnovers per game and they draw 19.4 personal fouls. They rank 228th in the nation in allowing assists to the opposition with 202 surrendered for the campaign. The Mustangs defensively are giving up an opponent FG percentage of 40.6% (344 of 848) and they surrender 32.9 rebounds per game as a unit. They concede 34.6% on 3-point shots while they are 210th in D-1 in opponents PPG (72.1).

In their last game, the North Carolina Tar Heels got the victory with a final of 74-73 when they played Notre Dame. With respect to how they rebounded, North Carolina allowed Notre Dame to grab 26 in all (8 offensive). They wrapped up this game 30.4% from downtown by going 7 of 23 and finished the contest at 16 out of 21 at the free throw line (76.2%). The Tar Heels allowed Notre Dame to bury 25 of their 57 tries from the field which had them shooting 43.9% in this contest. Overall, the Tar Heels shot 27 out of 51 from the floor which had them at 52.9%. Pertaining to shots from downtown, North Carolina knocked down 6 of 21 attempts (28.6%). They were able to knock down 14 of the free throws for a clip of 77.8%. Notre Dame had 15 fouls in this game which took the Tar Heels to the free throw line for a total of 18 tries. They turned the ball over 13 times, while earning 4 steals for the contest. The Tar Heels snagged 21 defensive rebounds and 4 offensive rebounds totaling 25 for this contest.

Ian Jackson was important for the Tar Heels in this game. He totaled 27 points in his 38 minutes on the hardwood and had 1 assist in this contest. He made 11 of 18 in this contest for a field goal rate of 61.1%, and accumulated 6 rebounds.

North Carolina has a record of 9-6 so far this year. As an offense, the Tar Heels are shooting 47.4% from the field, which is 74th in the nation. North Carolina has scored 1,269 pts on the season (84.6 per game) and they average 37.9 rebounds per contest. They are assisting teammates 14.1 times per game (178th in college) and they lose possession by turning the ball over 11.2 times per game. The Tar Heels are committing 19.3 fouls per game and they connect on 74.7% from the charity stripe.

The North Carolina defense surrenders 34.4% on shots from beyond the perimeter (136 of 395) and their opposition knocks down 72.5% of their free throw attempts. They relinquish 13.7 assists and 36.2 total rebounds per game, which is ranked 228th and 276th in college hoops. The Tar Heels on the defensive side of the court are 336th in Division 1 in PPG given up with 79.2. They are forcing their opponents into 11.7 turnovers on a nightly basis and have let teams shoot 43.1% from the field (187th in Division 1).

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take SMU

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