Notre Dame vs North Carolina Odds, Picks, Predictions (1/7/23) NCAAB

Notre Dame visits North Carolina in an early ACC clash. Notre Dame’s been struggling this year so far and have lost two straight coming into this game, with the latest coming to Boston College. On the other side, North Carolina won their last game after losing their previous game to Pitt. This should be an interesting ACC matchup. Let’s take a look at the odds and make some picks and predictions for this game!

Notre Dame vs. North Carolina Odds

North Carolina is a 12.5-point home favorite against Notre Dame and is at -790 on the money line. The over/under is also at 144.5. North Carolina being favored by this much makes sense because of how much better North Carolina is in terms of talent and that they are at home. The over/under also makes sense because both of these teams are very good on offense. This spread should stay where it’s at, but there’s a chance it could go up more.

Notre Dame vs. North Carolina Prediction & Pick

The pick: North Carolina -12.5

North Carolina’s struggles to start the year have been very evident, but they are primed to potentially go on a run in conference play. Armando Bacot is a monster down low still and is leading the Tar Heels in scoring, rebounding, and blocks. Caleb Love is a star at point guard still and is right behind Bacot in scoring, while also leading the team in assists. R.J. Davis is also averaging basically the same stat line as Love too. Pete Nance has also been a good addition as a stretch forward. As a team, the Tar Heels need to get better on defense, but they’ve been great on offense.

On the other side, Notre Dame has not been good this year overall. They have a few playmakers and Nate Laszewski is the main one for them down low. He leads the Fighting Irish in scoring and rebounds. Trey Wertz has also been very good and scores well and leads Notre Dame in assists and steals. J.J. Starling and Cormac Ryan are also decent players from the guard spot for Notre Dame as well. As a team, it’s been a struggle for the Fighting Irish. They have been okay on offense, but have not been able to play well on defense at all. The Tar Heels should win this game and should win it going away and it helps that they are the home team in this game too.

Notre Dame vs. North Carolina Key Matchups

Can Nate Laszewski matchup against Armando Bacot? Can Cormac Ryan matchup with Caleb Love?

Armando Bacot vs Nate Laszewski

Armando Bacot has been great this year still, despite the Tar Heels’ struggles. He averages 19 points, 2 assists, and 11 rebounds for the season. He’s a huge key for the Tar Heels this year. His matchup in this game is Nate Laszewski who averages 13 points, 2 assists, and 8 rebounds for the season. Laszewski has been Notre Dame’s best player overall this year. Bacot has been almost unstoppable this year, so it will be interesting to see if Laszewski can matchup with him at all. Bacot needs to impose his will early for the Tar Heels to feel good here.

Caleb Love vs Cormac Ryan

Caleb Love is one of the best go-to scorers in all of college basketball. He averages 17 points, 3 assists, and 4 rebounds for the season. He’s going to be a huge key for the Tar Heels too. His matchup in this game is going to be Cormac Ryan for the most part. Ryan averages 12 points, 2 assists, and 5 rebounds for the season. Ryan is the Fighting Irish’s best guard they have, so it will be interesting to see him matchup against Love. Caleb Love is a matchup nightmare and could cause a lot of issues for Ryan in this game depending on how often he guards him.