Following a couple of tough opponents over the weekend at the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament, the North Carolina Tar Heels return home to face the UNC Asheville Bulldogs on Tuesday’s sports betting calendar.
Let’s take a look at the NCAAB odds for this matchup.
UNC Asheville Bulldogs vs. North Carolina Tar Heels
Tuesday, November 23, 2021 – 07:00 PM EST at Dean E. Smith Center
Losses to Purdue and Tennessee up in Connecticut at Mohegan Sun Arena sent North Carolina tumbling out of the top 25 after entering last week ranked No. 18. It certainly wasn’t what first-year head coach Hubert Davis wanted to see out of his Tar Heels, who are expected to give rival Duke a challenge for the ACC title according to the NCAA basketball futures.
North Carolina’s sister school from down the road in Asheville shouldn’t be a complete pushover for the Tar Heels. The Big South is supposed to belong to Winthrop this season, though the Bulldogs are among a handful of contenders close behind the Eagles.
Head coach Mike Morrell returns several upper classmen who have been with him in Asheville the past few seasons, plus brought in a couple of key transfers.
Asheville Relying on Experienced Roster
Of course, there are "pushovers" and then there are the real pushovers, and a check of the wagering particulars reveals the Bulldogs should indeed be easy pickings for the Tar Heels. The ACC Network provides the broadcast from Chapel Hill, and BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review) has North Carolina favored by 22 with 154 for the total.
One of the transfers Morrell coaxed to Asheville, Drew Pember, led the way for the Bulldogs to top Tennessee Tech last Thursday in Chattanooga. The 6-10 junior poured in a game-high 16 to lead Asheville to the 61-55 triumph, also contributing seven rebounds and seven blocks.
A Knoxville native, Pember transferred from Tennessee and immediately found a familiar face in Trent Stephney after the two starred together on a state championship high school team.
Stephney has been part of the Asheville backcourt for three seasons now, and is joined out on the perimeter by Tajion Jones, another Volunteer State product, who led the team in scoring a year ago averaging 15.9 PPG. Pember teams down low with small forward LJ Thorpe, a fifth-year senior from Florida who has averaged 11.7 PPG over his career at Asheville.
UNC Among Top 3-Point Shooting Teams in Country
To be fair, Purdue and Tennessee made for a difficult back-to-back on the schedule this early for Davis and the Tar Heels. We might even look back at some point and say North Carolina played the Boilermakers pretty well since Purdue is looking better than advertised at this point.
But Davis now has just this game with Asheville to work out kinks before his team takes more than a week off and then hosts a solid Michigan team in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Also to be fair, after dropping the 93-84 decision to the hot-shooting Boilermakers, the Tar Heels fell a little flat in the 89-72 setback to the Volunteers. That was especially true in the second half when Tennessee freshmen guards Zakai Zeigler and Kennedy Chandler simply outplayed and outhustled North Carolina the final 20 minutes.
Top sportsbooks were giving the Tar Heels 7.5 against the Boilermakers and 2.5 against the Volunteers.
North Carolina actually shot better (10-23, 43.5%) from 3-point range than from inside the arc (12-32, 37.5%) against Tennessee. Brady Manek, a fifth-year transfer from Oklahoma, came off the bench to can 6-of-10 from long-range, leading the Tar Heels with 24 points. North Carolina is shooting 40.4% from 3-point range, good enough for 31st in the country.
Bulldogs Still Looking for First Win Vs. Heels
Tuesday’s tilt will be the ninth meeting between the two programs, and North Carolina has won each of the previous eight. All eight wins have been by at least double digits, and for good reason with the Tar Heels ranked No. 1 in the country in four of the clashes.
It has been a little more than 10 years since the schools met, with that November 2011 battle serving as the grand opening of Asheville’s Kimmel Arena. North Carolina was No. 1 when it rolled to a 91-75 decision behind John Henson’s double-double, though the Bulldogs squeezed out the cover with the Tar Heels favored by 17.5 on the college basketball odds.
Count me among those who are more interested in how North Carolina does in its first season under Davis than how Duke performs in its last season under Mike Krzyzewski. It’s just going to take some time for the Tar Heels to get into the new flow, and that’s why my free college basketball pick will be to take the points.
NCAAB Pick: UNC Asheville +22 (-105) 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.
