Elon vs North Carolina prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball
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It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with an Elon-North Carolina prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Elon-North Carolina.
The North Carolina Tar Heels produced an excellent regular season in 2024. Coach Hubert Davis had struggled in each of his previous two regular seasons at his alma mater. UNC did make the 2022 national championship game, losing to Kansas, but if you recall, that dazzling run to the final game of the college basketball season was preceded by a very bumpy winter in which North Carolina was an NIT team in late January. The Tar Heels needed a huge month of February to play their way into the NCAA Tournament field. In the 2022-2023 season, tough sledding continued to exist for Davis, who learned firsthand how difficult it was to maintain the standard set by his legendary predecessor — and a man who recommended him for the job — Roy Williams. After two very uneven regular seasons in Chapel Hill, Davis needed to show he could guide a Carolina team to the heights which are expected of the Tar Heels on the basketball court.
He succeeded … but the end of the campaign was not what he hoped for.
The good news is that North Carolina won the ACC regular-season championship and became a top-five team in the country, earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That is the expected North Carolina standard. A veteran lineup with a few key younger pieces meshed well and delivered the consistency which had eluded Hubert Davis in previous years. The Tar Heels made their way to Los Angeles for the Sweet 16 with everything in front of them. They led Alabama late in the game, but then a few possessions went horribly wrong. Role players took bad shots instead of giving the ball to R.J. Davis and Armando Bacot, the two team leaders. Those misguided possessions translated into a late Alabama rally. The Crimson Tide shocked the Heels and cut short UNC’s dream of a return to Glendale, Arizona, for the Final Four. UNC’s last national title was won in Glendale in 2017.
North Carolina had returned to a lofty perch, but now the challenge in a new season is to carry November-through-February excellence one month later into March.
Here are the Elon-North Carolina College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
College Basketball Odds: Elon-North Carolina Odds
Elon: +27.5 (-102)
Moneyline: +3500
North Carolina: -27.5 (-120)
Moneyline: -20000
Over: 150.5 (-115)
Under: 150.5 (-105)
How to Watch Elon vs North Carolina
Time: 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT
TV: ACC Network
Stream: fuboTV (Free Trial)
Why Elon Will Cover The Spread/Win
The spread is enormous. As good as North Carolina is expected to be this season, that’s still a massive pile of points for UNC to cover. On a first night, with so many players being rusty and a team needing to show it can play together in a live-game situation, the spread is simply set too high, and Elon can clear this modestly low bar.
Why North Carolina Will Cover The Spread/Win
Carolina has a lot to prove here, with new faces in the frontcourt after the departure of Bacot, an anchor of this program for the past several seasons. However, with R.J. Davis coming back, Carolina has a proven backcourt star who can take charge early in the season and make sure the team doesn’t fall off the pace. Davis is the main reason Carolina can win this game by 30 or more points.
Final Elon-North Carolina Prediction & Pick
The spread is just too high to feel comfortable about betting on this game. Pass.
Final Elon-North Carolina Prediction & Pick: North Carolina -27.5
The post Elon vs North Carolina prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball appeared first on ClutchPoints.
