North Carolina faces Louisville on Tuesday, February 1st, 2022 at the KFC Yum! Center for a college basketball ACC matchup.
North Carolina is coming off a 100-80 win over its rival NC State in its last game at home on January 29th. North Carolina's offense poured it on at home as the Tar Heels earned their third straight win after their bad losses to Wake Forest and Miami. North Carolina is now 15-6 overall, 7-3 in ACC play, and 9-12-0 against the spread this season. North Carolina's leading scorer so far this season has been F Armando Bacot, who has scored 16.3 points per game and has earned 12.1 rebounds per game as well. North Carolina as a team has scored 78.0 points per game and has shot the ball at a 45.4% clip from the field. North Carolina has also allowed 71.5 points per game to its opponents as well.
Louisville is coming off a 74-65 loss to Duke in its last game at home on January 29th. Louisville did put Duke on upset alert for a while in that game but in the end, the Blue Devils were too much and Louisville was handed its third straight loss. It was Louisville's first game with Mike Pegues as its head coach. Louisville is 11-10 overall, 5-6 in ACC play, and a measly 6-14-1 against the spread this season. Louisville's leading scorer so far this season has been F Malik Williams, who has scored 10.0 points per game and has earned 8.7 rebounds per game. Louisville as a team has scored 68.3 points per game and has shot the ball at a 42.2% clip from the field. Louisville has also allowed 68.0 points per game to its opponents.
North Carolina is a 3.5-point favorite and the total is set at 146.5. I think Louisville has bright days ahead of it but this is a tough spot for the Cardinals against a red hot and fired-up North Carolina that can score a ton. I do not think Louisville holds up here, even at home.
AUTHOR: Ron Romanelli
Follow Ron Romanelli on Twitter @RonnieRomanelli