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The Wake Forest Demon Deacons take on the NC State Wolfpack. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Wake Forest NC State prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Wake Forest NC State.
The North Carolina State Wolfpack have solidly established themselves as an NCAA Tournament team. Kevin Keatts reworked the roster and found combinations which work. The reality of modern college sports, with the ever-available transfer portal and its capacity to instantly refresh rosters, gives struggling coaches such as Keatts the ability to hit the reset button and improve quickly instead of drifting into futility. This has been the story of N.C. State this season.
Wake Forest nearly made the NCAA Tournament under head coach Steve Forbes last season, and the expectation was that the Demon Deacons would take that next step this year. It hasn't happened, but if Wake can get on a run over the next three weeks — the last two regular-season weekends in the ACC, plus the ACC Tournament — the Deacs are still on the bubble and within shouting distance of an NCAA bid. They do have to get hot, however. Wake doesn't need one or two wins; it needs at least four or five wins for sure. They don't have a large margin for error. This is essentially a must-win.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Wake Forest-NC State College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Wake Forest-NC State Odds
Wake Forest Demon Deacons: +5.5 (-110)
NC State Wolfpack: -5.5 (-110)
Over: 156.5 (-115)
Under: 156.5 (-105)
How To Watch Wake Forest vs. NC State
TV: ACC Network
Stream: ESPN+
Article Continues Below
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET, 6:00 p.m. PT
*Watch Wake Forest-NC State LIVE with fuboTV (Click for free trial)*
Why Wake Forest Could Cover the Spread
The North Carolina State Wolfpack beat Wake by a very small margin in the first meeting between these teams this season. The game was played on even terms. Wake Forest should be able to play State evenly in the rematch, especially when you arrive at the obvious conclusion that Wake needs this game far more than N.C. State does. Wake Forest doesn't need to establish the upper hand to cover the spread. It could, but it doesn't have to. Wake could lose by five points and still cover. There's a very good chance this game is close throughout, in which case Wake covering is the more likely outcome.
Why NC State Could Cover the Spread
The Wolfpack are a better team than Wake Forest, having won on the road in Winston-Salem earlier this season. They now get to play the rematch on their home floor in Raleigh, where they have been very tough to beat. North Carolina State relishes playing its in-state neighbors, and this season, State is 2-0 against those neighbors at home. N.C. State beat Duke at home in January, and it just did defeat North Carolina this past Sunday. The Wolfpack should be very confident entering this game, and they are playing high-level basketball with a sense of unity and cohesion not frequently seen in Raleigh over the past several years. Wake Forest has been achingly inconsistent. Is this Demon Deacon team ready to grab a clutch win? What we have seen over the past two months suggests the Deacs are not going to come through.
Final Wake Forest-NC State Prediction & Pick
Home court matters for N.C. State, and Wake Forest has questions to answer, but the Deacs need this game so much more than State does, and that's why Wake is still the better play.
Final Wake Forest-NC State Prediction & Pick: Wake Forest +5.5
