Look For North Carolina To Take Care of Tennessee At Home
Tennessee at North Carolina Odds Have Tar Heels Slight Favorites
North Carolina Looks To Pick Up Another Win Over the Tennessee Volunteers
The ACC/SEC Challenge continues with a matchup of ranked teams with the Tennessee at North Carolina odds listing the host Tar Heels as slight favorites.
Tennessee is coming off back-to-back losses to Purdue and Kansas teams that were ranked second and first in the national polls at the Maui Invitational with North Carolina bouncing back from an overtime loss to Villanova by rolling past Arkansas in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
The college basketball betting lines list North Carolina as a 2-point favorite.
North Carolina has won five of the six career meetings between the teams.
Guard Freddie Dillone is questionable for Tennessee with a foot injury.
For North Carolina, Cormac Ryan is questionable after missing the last game with an ankle injury.
Tennessee fell three spots to No. 10 in the Associated Press poll and to No. 11 in the coaches poll. The Tar Heels went from 14th to 17th in the AP poll and from 14th to 16th in the coaches poll.
When looking at the odds to win March Madness, Tennessee is tied for ninth at +600 in the odds to reach the Final Four with North Carolina coming in 12th at +650.
A quick look at the NCAA Basketball schedule shows that Tennessee has an early December matchup with Illinois with North Carolina meeting UConn in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden followed by a showdown with Kentucky in Atlanta.
Tennessee at North Carolina 
Day/Time:
Location: Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC
Streaming: ESPN
Line: North Carolina -2
Total: 144
Knecht Making An Immediate Impact
Northern Colorado transfer Dalton Knecht is coming off a season when he averaged 20.2 points and had at least 20 points on 18 occasions. There were some concerns about how his game would translate to a step up in competition.
So far, so good as Knecht leads the Volunteers in scoring at 17.5 points per game. He is looking to bounce back after going 4 of 13 from the field in a loss to Kansas the last time out. Keep that in mind when looking at the Tennessee at North Carolina odds.
USC Upstate transfer Jordan Gainey joins returnees Josiah-Jordan James, Santiago Vescovi, and Jonas Aidoo as other top offensive options.
The total has gone under in six of the last nine games played by Tennessee.
Davis Lighting It Up At UNC
RJ Davis was expected to be one of the top NCAA players in the ACC when he came back to play for the Tar Heels. He is more than living up to the advanced billing as Davis is averaging a career-high 18.2 points per game.
After a slow start in the Battle 4 Atlantis, Davis had 53 points in a loss to Villanova and a win over Arkansas.
Davis has been handling the perimeter scoring with teammate Armando Bacot continuing to do the work in the paint with Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram and Notre Dame transfer Cormac Ryan the other double-digit scorers for North Carolina. That could factor into the Tennessee at North Carolina odds. Keep an eye on the updates for Ryan after he missed the previous game.
The total has gone over in four of North Carolina’s last six games.
Last Meeting
Tennessee got 32 points from guard Zakai Zeigler and Kennedy Chandler to top North Carolina 89-72 in the consolation game of the 2021 Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Tennessee covered as 2.5-point favorites.
The game went over the 154-point total on a basket by Chandler with 1:51 left to play.
It was the first meeting between the teams since 2017.
Tennessee vs North Carolina Betting Preview
North Carolina will look to push the pace with the Tar Heels averaging 12 more points per game than Tennessee. Tennessee does have more steals per game than the Volunteers.
Tennessee’s offense is still looking to get going but the Volunteers are 25th in scoring defense, allowing 61.5 points per game as they are holding opponents to 38% shooting and 26.7% from 3-point range.
While North Carolina ranks outside the top 50 nationally in most offensive categories, the Tar Heels are 28th in scoring offense.
North Carolina is 3-0 at home this season but failed to cover in two of those three games. This is just the second true road game for Tennessee.
Tennessee has dropped both of its games when listed as the underdog with North Carolina going 5-1 as the favorite.
North Carolina is just 29-28-2 against the spread as a favorite over the last three seasons with the Tar Heels 16-17 as a home favorite during that stretch.
During that time, Tennessee has covered four of 13 games as the underdog and 2-6 as the road underdog.
North Carolina went 11-13 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with Tennessee posting a 6-3-1 mark in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Those events have been replaced by the ACC/SEC Challenge. The SEC went 4-3 against the ACC on Tuesday.
When it comes to NCAAB best bets today, it is hard to pick against North Carolina playing at home.
For NCAA basketball scores, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
