Perhaps the marquee game of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in college basketball is Wednesday night as No. 24 Michigan visits unranked North Carolina. Which way to lean at BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks?
Michigan Wolverines vs. North Carolina Tar Heels
Wednesday, December 01, 2021 – 09:15 PM EST at Dean E. Smith Center
The final game of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge around college basketball early this week is maybe the best one as No. 24 Michigan visits unranked North Carolina on Wednesday night with ESPN having the telecast – although, we must say this has lost a bit of luster.
It’s still very possible that both these schools are good enough to reach the Final Four, but they have both disappointed so far considering Michigan was ranked No. 6 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 and North Carolina 19th. To win the national title on the NCAAB odds, Michigan is +1500 and North Carolina +4500.
U-M and UNC have split eight all-time meetings. Of course, they played in an epic national championship game in 1993 and the Heels knocked off the Fab Five 77-71 – the Chris Webber “timeout” game. It’s the third time in five seasons the teams have met in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and they have split those.
Talented Wolverines Not Clicking Yet
Michigan (4-2) has losses to Seton Hall and Arizona in the early going but no shame in losing to those clubs as they will both be in the NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines, who are +400 at BMR’s top-rated picks to reach the Final Four, are not clicking on all cylinders yet, though, as proven by their surprisingly close 65-54 win over Tarleton last Wednesday in their most recent outing.
Freshman Caleb Houstan had his best game of the season with 14 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double. Fellow freshman Moussa Diabate had 14 points – Coach Juwan Howard welcomed one of the best freshman classes in the country.
Star sophomore center Hunter Dickinson had 10 rebounds, 9 points, 4 blocks, and 3 assists. Eli Brooks had 15 points and became U-M’s all-time wins leader (109). Brooks is a graduate student who took advantage of the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility this season following the pandemic.
Michigan has seven freshman and four sophomores on the team so it’s a young group – not a single junior, which is odd. Brooks leads the team in scoring at 15.7 ppg, while Dickinson is second at 14.8 ppg and leads with 8.2 rebounds per game.
Sophomore Zeb Jackson has yet to play this season as he has worked back from illness but could debut in this game. He would help with bench depth as Jackson didn’t play much as a freshman.
This is Michigan’s 20th appearance in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Wolverines have an 8-11 record, with a 3-7 road/neutral record.
Heels in First Season Under Davis
Like Michigan is coached by one of its former star players in Juwan Howard, North Carolina is led by a former star in Hubert Davis, who like Howard played in the NBA. In fact, the two were involved in a trade during the 2001-02 season as Howard was sent to the Dallas Mavericks and Davis landed with the Washington Wizards (few others players involved). UNC is +900 on the NCAAB odds to reach the Final Four.
The Tar Heels are 4-2 with their two losses at neutral sites against very good teams in Purdue and Tennessee. They most recently played last Tuesday and beat visiting UNC Asheville 72-53. Armando Bacot, the team’s best player, was 8-for-14 shooting for 22 points to go with 7 rebounds. It was Bacot’s third 20-point game of the season and seventh of his career.
North Carolina took the lead for good four minutes into the game and led by as many as 20 in the first half. North Carolina held UNC Asheville to 26.5 percent shooting from the floor, the lowest for a Heels’ opponent since Evansville shot 25.8 percent on Dec. 6, 2012.
Bacot leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg), rebounding (8.7 rpg), blocks (11), and field goal shooting (.667). Bacot led the Tar Heels in those four categories last season and no Tar Heel has led UNC in all four of those categories in consecutive seasons.
Four other Tar Heels are averaging at least 10 points – the last time five UNC players averaged 10 or more points for a full season was 2017-18. UNC is averaging 8.8 made three-pointers per game, which is ahead of the school record for a season. Brady Manek, an Oklahoma transfer, is probably the team’s best three-point shooter and is 13-for-31 from deep. Manek made 235 threes and scored 1,459 points in four seasons at Oklahoma.
North Carolina is 10-12 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and has dropped its past three. Michigan is the 19th ranked opponent to play Carolina in the Challenge.
This is Michigan’s first true road game and that matters. UNC also is a more veteran squad.
For our college basketball picks, we’ll take the points even though the Heels are 0-6 ATS in their past six at home on the NCAAB odds. Michigan is 2-4 ATS this year.
NCAAB Pick: North Carolina +1.5 (-110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
