The No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels (5-1) battle the No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide (5-1) Sunday in Portland at 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the North Carolina vs. Alabama odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
North Carolina has been playing with fire as the No. 1 team in the country all season. It finally caught up to them Friday with a 70-65 loss to Iowa State in Portland, just a day after beating a closer-than-expected 89-81 win over Portland State.'North Carolina is outside the top 50 in the nation in scoring offense and scoring defense.
Alabama lives and dies by the 3-point shot. The Crimson Tide are 21st in the nation, averaging 28.3 attempts per game, but they’ve only hit an average of 9 per game. Taking so many 3s, you would love to see a higher percentage of makes. If they shoot at this rate against the Tar Heels, UNC has the talent to run them out of the gym. If they can hit these shots, it could be a 2nd loss in a row for North Carolina in Portland.