North Carolina vs Oklahoma College Basketball Odds

It’s a really good night around college basketball on Wednesday highlighted by No. 11 North Carolina facing one of the nation’s biggest surprise teams in No. 7 and unbeaten Oklahoma in the Jumpman Invitational from Charlotte. So while it’s technically a neutral site, UNC will have the huge fan advantage. 2023 NCAA Basketball Betting & Expert Analysis #11 North Carolina vs. #7 Oklahoma | MyBookie Sportsbook College Basketball Regular Season: November 6, 2023 – March 17, 2024 | Week 7 NCAAB

How to Bet North Carolina vs. Oklahoma NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Wednesday, 9 PM ET
Where: Spectrum, Center, Charlotte
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: UNC -2 (total 154.5)

Series History

North Carolina leads 3-0 but the schools haven’t met since 2009. Oklahoma is ranked 10th overall and fourth in the Big 12 in the NET. Eight Big 12 teams are in the top 50. North Carolina is 37th overall and fourth in the ACC. The Sooners won the first-ever Jumpman men’s basketball contest, beating Florida 62-53 on Dec. 20, 2022.

Why Bet on North Carolina Tar Heels?

North Carolina (7-3) enters on a two-game skid but those losses were to No. 5 UConn and Saturday to No. 14 Kentucky, 87-83, at a neutral site in Atlanta. UNC squandered a chance to go for a tying 3-pointer when Elliot Cadeau, rushing the ball up the court, delivered a pass off the back of Cormac Ryan, who was looking the other way.

RJ Davis scrambled to recover the loose ball but wound up dribbling across the center line for a backcourt violation. “It’s just a turnover,” coach Hubert Davis said, brushing off any attempt to dissect what his team was trying to do. “The play was not to turn it over.”

Davis led Carolina with 27 points and seven rebounds in a game-high 38 minutes. He is the first Tar Heel to lead the team in scoring in six consecutive games since ACC Player of the Year and consensus first-team All-America Justin Jackson in 2017. Davis has scored 26 or more points in each of the last five games. He is the first Tar Heel to score 26 or more points in at least five straight games since 1970, when Charlie Scott did so in 12 straight games. Davis made his first eight free throws, which extended his streak to 41 in a row, which tied the all-time UNC record (he missed his ninth attempt which ended the streak at 41). Jeff Lebo made 41 in a row in 1989.

Ryan added 20 points for UNC, breaking out of a shooting slump with his best offensive performance of the season. Ryan made a season-high four three-pointers. It was the 19th time in his career he made four or more. Harrison Ingram scored 10 points. He is the only Tar Heel to score in double figures in all 10 games this season.

Carolina entered the game averaging 10.1 turnovers per game. The Tar Heels committed 17 turnovers, their most since committing 18 against Alabama in November 2022. Kentucky’s bench outscored Carolina’s, 36-14, the most UNC’s bench was outscored since Florida State outscored UNC’s bench, 35-8, on 2/27/23.

The Tar Heels shot 53.8 percent from the floor in a strong second half, but Kentucky tallied 36 bench points to UNC’s 14 and established a 42-32 rebounding advantage while forcing 17 Tar Heel turnovers. Kentucky missed 42 shots and recovered 18 of them, meaning they grabbed 42.9 percent of their misses. Carolina missed 50 shots and rebounded six of them, an offensive rebound percentage of 12 percent.

“Rebounding is an attitude and toughness,” Davis said. “It just is. That’s what has to change. I talked to the team before the game about living in the trenches and doing the things we had to do to put ourselves in position. In a two-point game, we missed two rebounds and didn’t get the rebound. We have to credit Kentucky for making a few more plays than us, and that’s why they won.”

This game could have a bit more meaning for UNC after former Heels All-American center Eric Montross died Monday at the young age of 52 due to cancer. Montross played for Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith at UNC from 1990 to 1994, and he was the starting center when the Tar Heels won the 1993 national championship. He was a first-team All-ACC selection that season, and he was a two-time Associated Press second-team All-American.

Bet North Carolina to Win
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Why Bet on Oklahoma Sooners?

Porter Moser is a top National Coach of the Year candidate with No. 7 Oklahoma at 10-0 for the first time since the 2015-16 Final Four campaign. In the previous 20 seasons, the Sooners have won their first 10 games three times (2008-09, 2015-16 and 2023-24). OU finished the 2008-09 campaign 30-6 and advanced to the Elite Eight. The Sooners reached their fifth Final Four in 2015-16, finishing with a 29-7 mark overall.

OU’s 10-0 start is tied for the seventh-best start in program history with the 1991-92 and 2003-04 seasons. With a victory against UNC, the 2023-24 Sooners would be in sole possession of seventh. The 1989-90, 2008-09 and 2015-16 teams started 12-0. OU is one of four teams that have remained unbeaten to start the 2023-24 season, joined by Houston, James Madison and Ole Miss.

In their last outing, the Sooners earned a dominant wire-to-wire victory over Green Bay, beating the Phoenix 81-47. Sophomore Otega Oweh tallied a career-best seven steals and became the first Sooners since J.R. Raymond to record seven or more steals in a single game. Raymond tallied seven steals against UALR on Dec. 11, 1999.

Oklahoma ranks in the top 50 nationally in 11 categories. The Sooners are sixth in three-point percentage defense (25.6%), sixth in scoring margin (23.1 PPG), 11th in field goal percentage (51.0%), 13th in field goal percentage defense (37.5%), 15th in free throw percentage (77.9%), 15th in effective field goal percentage (57.5%), 15th in scoring defense (61.3 PPG), 19th in rebound margin (10.0 RPG), 29th in scoring offense (84.4 PPG), 38th in bench points per game (29.5 PPG) and 49th in defensive rebounds per game (28.2 DRPG).

Oweh is 10th in NCAA DI and first in the Big 12 in field goal percentage (66.7%), 27th nationally in steals per game (2.4) and 37th in steals (24). Sam Godwin is 10th nationally and first in the conference in offensive rebounds per game (3.9 RPG). Junior Javian McCollum ranks seventh among NCAA DI active career leaders in free throw percentage (88.6%). In 61 career games, McCollum has made 156 free throws in 176 attempts.

Under Moser, Oklahoma is 10-2 in non-conference neutral site games, including victories over USC, Iowa and Arkansas in 2023-24 and wins over Nebraska, Seton Hall, Ole Miss and Florida in 2022-23. OU’s two losses were to Utah State in the 2021 Myrtle Beach Invitational Championship game and Arkansas in the 2022 Crimson & Cardinal Classic.

Bet Oklahoma to Win
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