Michigan vs. North Carolina Basketball Picks

The Michigan Wolverines play the North Carolina Tar Heels on Wednesday night in Charlotte, North Carolina in a game that can be seen on ESPN. While this is technically a neutral site game since it won’t be played at Chapel Hill, it is almost a home game for North Carolina with the game in Charlotte. Michigan comes into this game at 7-3 SU and 5-5 ATS with six games going over the total and four going under. North Carolina is 8-4 SU and 4-7-1 ATS with six games going over the total and six going under. These teams met last year and it was a North Carolina rout, as they won 72-51. Let’s look at Michigan vs. North Carolina picks.

Michigan Wolverines vs. North Carolina Tar Heels

Date and Time: Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at 7:00 PM EST

Location: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina

TV Coverage: ESPN

BetMaker previews the upcoming matchup and gives a prediction for Wednesday night’s contest.

Michigan Wolverines vs. North Carolina Tar Heels

Michigan has won seven games this season but it is hard to find many good wins on their resume. This would really be a good game to win for Michigan, as it would give them something on their resume to point to when it comes NCAA Tournament time. Michigan is averaging 77.4 points per game and that ranks 90^th in the country. They have struggled in 3-point shooting at just over 35%. While the offense hasn’t been that great, it is far better than their putrid defense which is giving up 71.3 points per game, ranking 249^th in the country. Hunter Dickinson leads the team in scoring at 19.1 points per game. Kobe Bufkin leads the team in assists at just under three per game, while Dickinson leads the team in rebounding at just over eight per contest.

North Carolina is coming off a big win against Ohio State last time out. The Buckeyes were ranked in the Top 25, so the win was huge for the Tar Heels. North Carolina had to rally, as Ohio State led the game for 32 minutes, but head coach Hubert Davis used a full court press that forced Ohio State mistakes and the Tar Heels rallied to force overtime and they won in the extra frame. Guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love played well and Armando Bacot was the key player in the middle, as he scored 28 points and had 15 rebounds. Davis said the team didn’t have to win that game, but he was very happy they did. “I don’t think we needed to win this game. We approached this game as a game that we wanted to get better and we wanted to improve on.” Davis said to the media, “I wouldn’t say we needed a win against a good team, the other seven games that we played, they were really good teams too. So, this is just an opportunity for us to get better against a really good Ohio State team and we responded extremely well. I’m very happy and very proud of all the players — it was their win.”

North Carolina is averaging 81.6 points per game which is 31^st in the country. They get almost all of their scoring from the inside, as they are awful from 3-point range at just over 30%. They are struggling on defense, as they give up 74.4 points per game which is one of the worst marks in the nation. Caleb Love leads the team in scoring at 18.3 points per game and he leads them in assists with 3.8 per contest. Armando Bacot leads the team in rebounding at 11.6 per game.

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Michigan Wolverines vs. North Carolina Tar Heels Free Pick

We are coming off a split last week with our college basketball picks, after sweeping the previous week. As noted earlier, it was North Carolina winning 72-51 last year against Michigan. The Wolverines had taken the previous two meetings in 2018 and 2019, winning 84-67 and 73-64. In this game on Wednesday night, I don’t know that I want to lay points with North Carolina, but I want no part of Michigan. Neither of these teams is playing much defense, so I think the best choice is to play the game over the total.

The Pick: Over

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