NC State (18-9) looked on their way to the Big Dance, but they have lost 2straight and both losses were against ranked teams. The Wolfpack are 0-6facing ranked teams this season and if they go 0-7 and do not get to 20 winsthey may be on the wrong side of the bubble looking in when selection Sundayrolls around. After their upset home loss to Duke UNC (23-4) has won 3 straightwith 2 of those games being blowouts. The Wolfpack have a good defense, butcan they stop a Tar Heels team that ranks 2nd in the nation in scoring and 2nd inrebounding?

In their last game NC State was at home and lost to Florida State 76-62 andNorth Carolina was at home and laid a 74-52 beat down on Clemson.

While North Carolina has been a decent bet this season at 14-12 ATS with anOver/Under record of 12-14 the same cannot be said about NC State, as theyare at 10-13 ATS with an Over/Under record of 13-10.

For the Wolfpack to pull off the big home upset they will have to play good D onUNC and the best frontcourt in the nation in 6’8” F Harrison Barnes (18.1 ppg),7’ F Tyler Zeller (15.6 ppg 9.5 rpg), and 6’11 F John Henson (14 ppg 10.3 rpg).These trees give UNC a lot of height inside and if they have their way in the paintthe Wolfpack will be crushed.

Barnes has been lights out lately averaging 21.5 ppg in his last 4 games.

NC State is led by forwards C.J. Leslie (13.3 ppg 6.6 rpg) and Scott Wood (13ppg) and thee guys need to play well on offense and get some help from thebackcourt guys.

Leslie and NC State leading rebounder Richard Howell (11 ppg 9.2 rpg) have atall task in this game trying to keep the Tar Heels from killing them on the glass.I say tall order, as this duo are both 6’8” and giving up size inside to the stellarUNC frontcourt.

These 2 teams met at Chapel Hill at the end of last month and the Tar Heelscrushed the Wolfpack by 19 points. NC State shot 36.8% for the game whileUNC almost shot 49% from the field. However, the big stat that NC State cannotallow to happen in this game is on the boards, where the Wolfpack only had 21

rebounds while the Tar Heels had 48.

UNC is 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games against teams with a winning S.U. recordand they have an Under record of 22-10 in their last 32 road games.

NC State is 4-16-1 ATS in their last 21 home games, 7-15-1 ATS in their last 23games following a ATS loss, and they have an Over record of 9-3 in their last 12home games.UNC is simply too dominant up front, as the Wolfpack cannotkeep up with the great F trio of the Tar Heels. Take UNC to win this game andcover even though they are on the road and this is a rivalry match up.

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