Miami vs. North Carolina Odds, Picks, Predictions College Basketball: Tar Heels Getting Too Much Respect?

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The North Carolina Tar Heels are favored over the ranked Miami Hurricanes as the two teams square off in their only meeting of the regular season. Here are the best Miami vs. North Carolina college basketball picks based on the top NCAAB odds.

The Hurricanes have won four games in a row, including an 81-59 win over the Duke Blue Devils and a 78-74 road win over the Clemson Tigers. They are 20-5 overall and 11-4 in conference play. They have wins over the North Carolina State Wolfpack and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, but they are also the only team to lose to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the ACC.

The Tar Heels were dominant in their 91-71 win over Clemson. The victory ended a three-game losing streak and kept North Carolina above .500 in conference play. At 16-9 overall and 8-6 in conference play, the final six games of the season are huge for the Tar Heels. They will face three teams that are currently ranked and end the season with a home game against Duke.

Here is our best Miami vs. North Carolina college basketball pick (odds via DraftKings Sportsbook; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).

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Miami vs. North Carolina pick

It's never easy to pick up a win in Chapel Hill, but it is surprising to see the Tar Heels favored by more than a basket in this one. The Hurricanes are just 5-4 on the road this season, but their losses have all been very close and within this point spread, with the exception of their terrible letdown performance against Georgia Tech. They lost by two in overtime to NC State, lost by two at Duke, and lost by three to the Pittsburgh Panthers. All three of those teams are ahead of the Tar Heels in the ACC standings.

The Tar Heels are 11-1 at home this season, and their only loss came by one point to ACC-leading Pittsburgh. That is what prevents this from being a five-star play. That and the fact that the Tar Heels destroyed Clemson in their most recent game. In that game, Caleb Love was 6-of-9 from deep and R.J. Davis was 4-for-10 from beyond the arc. As a team, they shot 45.5% from 3-point range.

It's unlikely they have as much success on Monday, as the Hurricanes are allowing opponents to shoot just 32.9% from deep. Even if they do stay hot, the Hurricanes are 61st in the country shooting 36.3% from long range, so they should have no trouble keeping up against a UNC defense that doesn't do much defending.

Though recent trends generally don't matter, one thing has been consistent under Jim Larranaga: Miami plays hard against North Carolina. The Hurricanes have covered the spread in three of their last four games agai nst UNC, including a 28-point win last season when they were 2.5-point underdogs.

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Miami vs. North Carolina best odds

DraftKings	FanDuel	BetMGM	Caesars	PointsBet
Miami +4.5	Miami +4.5	Miami +4.5	Miami +4.5	Miami +4.5
-105	-110	-115	-110	-110

All five major sportsbooks have the Tar Heels favored by 4.5 points. DraftKings is offering the best price, which makes them the easy answer for where to place your wager.

The DraftKings price signals that the sportsbook is getting enough money that this spread could move. If you don't have a price of -110 in case things drift back toward the Hurricanes, it could be worth waiting to get this spread at Miami +5. But that is totally up to you, as we think the Hurricanes could win this game outright and 4.5 points is plenty.