The Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels will face off tonight in what should be another entertaining battle in Chapel Hill. The last time these two teams met, the Tar Heels eked out a win in Durham. Which team will head into the 2021 ACC tournament off a nice victory? Let's check out the NCAAB odds for this huge game and see our Duke-North Carolina prediction at the end of this preview.

Here’s how sportsbooks have set the opening Duke-North Carolina odds.

NCAAB Odds: Duke-North Carolina

Duke Blue Devils +2.5 (-110)

North Carolina Tar Heels -2.5 (-110)

Over 149Points (-120)

Under 149Points (+100)

Why The Blue Devils Could Cover The Spread

Duke can’t afford to lose this game. Losing to the Tar Heels under any circumstance is a big no-no for Duke, but this time, the need to get a W at the expense of its archenemy becomes even more magnified because the Blue Devils are currently standing on shaky ground with regards to their chances to make the 2021 March Madness. A loss to the Tar Heels would only make it harder for Duke to gain the confidence of the selection committee come Selection Sunday. 

The Blue Devils lost to North Carolina at home back on February 6,  91-87, but that was in a game in which the Tar Heels had an anomalous shooting performance from long range. North Carolina hit 10 3-pointers on 15 attempts for a fantastic 66.7 percent success rate.

Considering that the Tar Heels are just  309th in the nation with a poor 30.4 percent shooting from behind the arc plus the fact that they have hit just 25.9 percent of their threes since the win over Duke, it’s hard to see them coming up with the same kind of incredible outside shooting tonight. 

Duke bettors can also draw confidence from the fact that the underdog in this matchup has gone 5-2 against the spread over the last seven Blue Devils-Tar Heels meetings.

Why The Tar Heels Could Cover The Spread

North Carolina will come into the game against the Blue Devils fresh off a 72-70 road loss to the Syracuse Orange last Monday. However, it should also be remembered that this is the same Tar Heels squad that defeated the top team in the ACC not too long ago. Prior to the loss to Jim Boeheim’s unit, the Tar Heels took down the Florida State Seminoles in Durham on February 27. More importantly, the Tar Heels are 1-0 this season against Duke, as mentioned earlier. 

It’s also worth mentioning that North Carolina has covered the spread in all of its last four games after failing to do so in the previous contest.

The Tar Heels got 25 points from freshman Caleb Love to lead them past Duke while the other starters chipped in at least 12 points. Love and company could put up that many points again later tonight against Duke’s defense that’s been roasted over the last two Blue Devils games in which they gave up an average of 80.5 points and 23.5 free-throw attempts.

Duke’s faulty defense has led to the team resorting often to fouls to stop the attacks of opposing teams, and North Carolina took advantage of that in the first meeting when the Tar Heels went 13 of 22 from the foul line, while the Blue Devils hit just four free throws on seven attempts. 

North Carolina is unlikely to shoot over 60% from downtown against Duke, but expect the Tar Heels to win the rebounding battle again, as they are second in the nation with 43.0 rebounds per game. North Carolina freshman forward Day'Ron Sharpe is No. 1 in Division I basketball in offensive rebounding percentage (18.9)

Final Duke-North Carolina Prediction & Pick

North Carolina is playing at home and has looked a whole lot better in its last couple of games compared to Duke, which is simply not playing the way it usually had in previous seasons. The Tar Heels will not hit 10 threes in this game but will dominate the possession battle with their terrific rebounding and score lots of freebies from the foul line.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION & PICK FOR DUKE-NORTH CAROLINA: NORTH CAROLINA 77, DUKE 72  (UNC-2.5)