Duke Blue Devils vs. North Carolina Tar Heels Odds, Analysis, Betting Preview

The 20th-ranked Duke Blue Devils (19-6) will try to move one step closer to the ACC lead when they visit the fifth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels (21-4) on Wednesday as consensus 6.5-point road underdogs at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

The defending national champion Blue Devils will also look to extend their winning streak to five games and beat the conference-leading Tar Heels for the 11th time in 14 meetings.

Duke is 10-3 straight up and 7-6 against the spread in the past 13 games against North Carolina, according to the Odds Shark College Basketball Database, winning 84-77 on March 7, 2015, at Chapel Hill despite closing as a 1.5-point road dog.

The Blue Devils are coming off a thrilling 63-62 win over the seventh-ranked Virginia Cavaliers but did not cover the spread as two-point home favorites on Saturday, as Grayson Allen hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer after missing two free throws with 27.3 seconds left.

The Tar Heels have split their last four games, winning their last two following a two-game skid that saw them lose on the road to the Louisville Cardinals and Notre Dame Fighting Irish both SU and ATS.

They have rebounded since then, beating the Boston College Eagles and Pittsburgh Panthers by a combined 24 points, although they have failed to cover six of their past eight, with the under going 7-1 during that stretch heading into Wednesday night's betting matchup.

The under is also 4-1 in the past five for Duke overall, with both schools tightening up their defenses toward the end of the regular season in preparation for the postseason.

The Blue Devils have given up 69.5 points per game during their winning streak, and the under has gone 3-1. Meanwhile, North Carolina has surrendered an average of 64 points in its last six wins, with the under cashing five times.

However, the past three meetings between the two ACC rivals have all finished over the total. Duke averaged nearly 90 points in winning each of those games, two of which came at home. The under was 3-0 in the previous three meetings, with two of them taking place at Chapel Hill.