Duke Blue Devils vs. North Carolina Tar Heels Betting Preview, Game Stats

The Duke Blue Devils will be looking to extend their winning streak to 11 games and can cover the spread for the third game in a row with a big road victory against the North Carolina Tar Heels in a key ACC matchup Saturday. 

The Blue Devils (27-3, 14-3 ACC) defeated the Tar Heels (21-9, 11-6) in overtime, 92-90, at home on February 18 but failed to cover the spread as 8.5-point favorites on the college basketball odds. That was the fourth time in the past six meetings that they did not beat the number. 

Both teams are coming off monster wins earlier in the week, as Duke routed the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 94-51, to easily cover as 17.5-point home favorites on Wednesday after North Carolina blew out the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 81-49, as 5.5-point road chalk on Tuesday. 

The Tar Heels have won two straight games now following a rough stretch that saw them drop five of their previous seven, including that tough road loss to the Blue Devils. They are 4-1 against the spread in their past five games. North Carolina has played much better defense lately, limiting opponents to an average of just 53 points over the last three games with the under cashing each time. 

Duke has covered two straight games after alternating wins and losses ATS in its previous 10 games before that. The Blue Devils can lock up the second seed in the ACC Tournament by completing a sweep of the Tar Heels and remain the only team to hand the back-to-back conference champion Virginia Cavaliers a loss this season. 

In fact, Duke’s current 10-game winning streak started with a 69-63 victory at Virginia on January 31, with the team closing as a 5.5-point road underdog. 

North Carolina is battling the Louisville Cardinals for the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament, as both schools are tied in conference play and split two meetings, with each winning on its home court. The Cardinals lost at home to Notre Dame, 71-59, as 3.5-point favorites on Wednesday and host the Cavaliers Saturday.

While the past two meetings between the Tar Heels and Blue Devils have both gone over the total, those games were each played at Cameron Indoor Stadium. In the last six meetings played at Chapel Hill, the under is 5-1, according to the OddsShark College Basketball Database, with the teams splitting the games straight-up and Duke going 4-2 ATS. 

North Carolina won the last home meeting with the Blue Devils a year ago, 74-66, as a two-point underdog.