Notre Dame Fighting Irish at North Carolina Tar Heels Betting Pick and Prediction

The no. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels will try to bounce back from a disappointing loss over the weekend when they host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Tuesday night. As the home side, the Tar Heels are favored by 14.5 points.

The Tar Heels opened ACC play with a couple of impressive road wins against Pitt and NC State. However, UNC suffered a huge setback, losing their ACC home opener to Louisville 83-62. The 21-point loss was the worst home loss under Roy Williams. The Tar Heels will have to bounce back quickly before they hit the road for three of their next four games.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame picked up their first conference win of the season over the weekend. The Irish began conference play with double-digit losses to both Virginia Tech and Syracuse. However, Notre Dame was able to hold off a late rally from Boston College to win 69-66 on Saturday. Unfortunately, four of their next five games are against ranked teams, so the Irish will have to try to seize some momentum after that win.

Short-Handed

The most impressive part of Notre Dame’s win over Boston College is that they did it with just six scholarship players. Senior Rex Pflueger and freshman Robby Carmody are already ruled out for the long-term, but Juwan Durham and leading-scorer T.J. Gibbs also missed the game. Despite the absences, John Mooney and Prentiss Hubb both stepped up with big games. In the end, the Irish did just enough to get the win, which should give them a big confidence boost heading into Tuesday’s game.

Of course, Notre Dame is going to need all hands on deck when they face the Tar Heels. Gibbs sat out over the weekend with a sudden illness, so there’s a good chance the Irish will get their leading scorer back. However, Durham missing with a knee injury could be another story. He’s averaging 3.3 blocks per game, and his potential absence could make it easier for the Tar Heels to attack the basket and win the rebounding battle.

What Went Wrong?

For North Carolina, it’s all about figuring out what went wrong against Louisville and looking for a quick fix to a number of problems. Despite 11 rebounds from Luke Maye, the Tar Heels were beaten on the boards. With Louisville making over 50% of their shots and collecting 10 offensive rebounds, UNC was limited in their usually potent transition game. They were also just 3 for 22 from the three-point line, which isn’t a strength of North Carolina outside of sharpshooter Cameron Johnson.

The silver lining for North Carolina is that the Fighting Irish aren’t particularly good on the boards or shooting from a distance. Notre Dame has largely been out-performed on both fronts during ACC play. However, the Tar Heels need to pick it up offensively after their loss to Louisville. Freshman Coby White will need to bounce back quickly after scoring just four points on Saturday.

Not So Fast

North Carolina will surely play better Tuesday night than they did over the weekend. But they’ll also be playing a Notre Dame team brimming with confidence after their win over the weekend. It’ll be tough for the Tar Heels to pull a complete 180 and dominate the Irish. Bet on Notre Dame beating the 14.5-point spread against North Carolina, even if the Tar Heels win the game.