College Basketball: North Carolina At Wake Forest

The ACC is once again shaping up to be one of the most competitive conferences in college basketball. It is home to some of the most iconic programs in the game, and they all look to be hungry again this season, with no less than 4 teams starting this week with 14 wins or more already under their belts. One of that group of 4 is the North Carolina Tar Heels, who are coming into this week with a 14-3 record, but also a disappointing loss to Georgia Tech in conference play. The will take the short trip to Winston-Salem on Wednesday night to face a Wake Forest Demon Deacons side that has not played very well this season, and who have already slipped to 1-3 in conference play. This is the sort of game that the Tar Heels should win going away, but when you have an in-state rivalry going, you just never know what might happen. Could this potentially be another banana skin for the Tar Heels?

A Closer Look At The College Basketball Expert Picks: Tar Heels At Demon Deacons

When: Wednesday, January 11 at 8 PM EST Where: Lawrence Joel Coliseum, Winston-Salem TV: ESPN2 NCAAB Odds: TBA    

Why bet on the North Carolina Tar Heels

The North Carolina Tar Heels recently went through a run of games where they were winning, but where they did not look very convincing. That run ended with a loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, which seemed to serve as a wake-up call for this talented Tar Heels crew. It also helped that they got Theo Pinson back in the line-up, and while the enigmatic young man did not make an impact on the score sheet, his presence seemed to lift his teammates, as they delivered their best performance of the year in a 107-56 win over North Carolina State. You get the feeling that they turned the corner in that game, which could be bad news indeed for the struggling Demon Deacons.

Why bet on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons

The Demon Deacons (10-6, 1-3) are not having the best of seasons, but in fairness to them, they have had a pretty brutal schedule so far. They have had 4 games against ranked opposition this year, and have come up short in all of them. The closest they came to springing any sort of upset came on the road against then #17 ranked Xavier, where they fell 69-65 in a close one. Their other outings versus ranked teams have not been close at all, with the latest being a 79-62 pounding at the hands of the Virginia Cavaliers on Sunday. I see no reason to believe why we can’t expect more of the same this coming Wednesday.  

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

You might expect Wake Forest to come out a little fired up against their in-state rivals in their own building, but it really should only be a matter of time before the class prevails, and the Tar Heels start to pull away.

North Carolina Tar Heels 77 Wake Forest Demon Deacons 61