The North Carolina Tar Heels will be looking to avenge a regular-season loss to Virginia and state their case for a No. 1 March Madness seed when they take on the Cavaliers in Saturday’s ACC Tournament championship game as expected betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Saturday night’s Tar Heels vs. Cavaliers matchup at Verizon Center marks North Carolina’s fifth ACC Tournament championship game appearance in the past six years. However, UNC has come up empty during that stretch, losing in all four previous games by an average margin of 9.5 points.
North Carolina entered the ACC Tournament as the No. 1 seed after finishing the regular season atop the ACC standings with a 14-4 SU record.
After disposing of the Pittsburgh Panthers in their quarterfinal matchup by an 88-71 score, and covering as 7.5-point chalk, the Tar Heels were firing on all cylinders on Friday, laying a 78-47 beating on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for their fourth consecutive straight-up win, once again covering as 7-point chalk at the sportsbooks.
The victory over the Irish also marks North Carolina’s third straight win against the spread, allaying concerns about the squad’s ability to win big after covering in just four of its previous 13 outings.
Virginia strengthened its case for No. 1 seed consideration with a 73-68 victory over the Miami Hurricanes on Friday, closing out the ATS win as 4.5-point chalk on the college basketball betting lines.
The Cavaliers have been beasts at the sportsbooks, however, going an impressive 10-2 ATS over their past 12, ending a dismal 2-8 ATS run with a defense that has held opposing defenses to fewer than 60 points on eight occasions, and also forcing the point total under in 10 of their past 12, according to the OddsShark College Basketball Database.
It likely will be a partisan crowd favoring Virginia in Washington D.C. on Saturday night as the Cavaliers seek their second SU victory over the Tar Heels in the past two weeks, after handing the Tar Heels a 79-74 loss in Charlottesville on Feb. 27.
That win marked the Cavaliers’ third straight regular-season victory over North Carolina, both SU and ATS. But it has been the Tar Heels who have claimed victory in the past two ACC Tournament clashes between these conference rivals, posting a 71-67 win as 4.5-point underdogs in last year’s semifinal, and a 79-67 victory as 14-point favorites in the 2006 ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
