NCAA Basketball Preview: North Carolina Tar Heels vs Texas Longhorns ACC-Big 12 Predictions

North Carolina Tar Heels vs Texas Longhorns
Saturday, 12/18/10, 4:00 PM EDT, TV: CBS
Opening Point Spread: North Carolina -2.5
Current Betting Line: North Carolina -3

The North Carolina Tar Heels are slight neutral court favorites despite losing the last three meetings against the Texas Longhorns

North Carolina resumes its season after a weeklong break for Fall semester final exams and will face the Texas Longhorns at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Tar Heels will be looking to win their fourth game in a row and break a three-game losing streak to this afternoon’s opponent. The team captured a 96-91 victory over the Long Beach State 49ers last time out, but head coach Roy Williams was less-than-thrilled with the squad’s effort. “I was disappointed in our defense,” he commented. “We’ve been living off our defense for the last four or five games and I think if you watch the game, or games, and you know anything about basketball you would agree with that.” Williams has recorded a 6-3 record against Texas head coach Rick Barnes in his coaching career. North Carolina is 3-5 ATS on the season and currently a slight favorite on the college basketball lines page.

The Tar Heels dropped a 103-90 contest last season when matching up with the Longhorns inside Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. North Carolina has actually dropped the last three meetings between the two programs and hope playing in today’s venue will help end the skid. The team is a dominating 113-29 in the city of Greensboro, including a 5-0 mark in NCAA Tournament games. A win this afternoon would likely return the Tar Heels to the top 25 rankings after starting eighth in the preseason poll before falling out with consecutive losses. Offensively, the squad is among the ACC leaders in shooting 46.4 percent, but it has been held to under 40 percent from the floor in two games this season.

Texas has cruised in its eight victories this season by registering a plus-23.0 points margin in those contests. The Longhorns enter off two impressive victories against lower competition, a 101-65 win over Texas State followed by a 70-48 win over North Florida. Despite the last two games, Barnes has scheduled quite a slate for his team in preparation for the Big 12 schedule, with games against Michigan State, Arkansas and Connecticut upcoming. “We’re a national program and we’re going to play a national schedule,” he stated. “Our whole schedule is set up to try to help us be the best team we can be.” Texas is 5-17 ATS on the road over the past three years.

The Longhorns have held their first 10 opponents to an average of 61.2 points per game on 35.6 percent shooting, including a 28.8 percent mark from the 3-point area. Texas has struggled in learning a new motion offense at times this season, but many opponents still know its important to keep its bigger lineup off the offensive glass to be successful against them. “I think what gave them confidence is the second shots,” said Texas State coach Doug Davalos. “That relaxes the shooters a little bit.” The main change is setting more screens in the offense to free up shooters after the Longhorns relied heavily on point guard play the past two years.

Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Longhorns are 2-7 ATS as an underdog of 0.5 to 6.5 points, while the Tar Heels are 2-5 ATS in non-conference games.