9:05 pm
March 10

ACC Tournament: Notre Dame v. North Carolina

Who will WIN this matchup?

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-14)

North Carolina Tar Heels (16-9)

 

Current odds:

Notre Dame Fighting Irish: (+240)

North Carolina Tar Heels: (-280)

 

• The line for this game is North Carolina by 7 points.

• The challenge for North Carolina is to string together some success. That’s what it will take in the postseason. The sixth-seeded Tar Heels aim to build off one of their most impressive outings when they play Wednesday night against 11th-seeded Notre Dame in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament at Greensboro, N.C.

• North Carolina (16-9) received a first-round bye Tuesday while Notre Dame (11-14) rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit and defeated Wake Forest 80-77 on Trey Wertz’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. Now the Irish have something to draw energy from as well.

• The Tar Heels crushed Duke 91-73 in Saturday night’s regular-season finale a week after knocking off Florida State, which was in first place at the time. In between, there was a loss at Syracuse. The Duke game might be something to try to replicate.

• The Tar Heels haven’t won two consecutive ACC games since January. Still, they’ve seen the possibilities during some recent contests.

• North Carolina topped visiting Notre Dame 66-65 on Jan. 2 in a matchup that was announced just two days earlier as the ACC made schedule adjustments.

• Until Tuesday, North Carolina played in the most-recent ACC tournament game, an 81-53 loss to Syracuse in the final game of the 2020 second round. Before another game was played the next day, the rest of the tournament was canceled. That outcome, though, came by the largest margin of defeat for North Carolina in an ACC tournament game.

• Usually, though, the Tar Heels excel in the Greensboro Coliseum. They’re 40-19 in ACC tournament games in the building. Notre Dame is 5-1 all-time in ACC tournament play in Greensboro.

7/10
Confidence
StreakSmarter Pick
North Carolina Tar Heels
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