Radford vs North Carolina Odds, Pick | NCAAB Betting Guide (Monday, Nov. 6)

Radford vs. North Carolina Odds

Below we have Radford vs North Carolina odds and a pick, including an NCAAB betting guide for Monday, Nov. 6.

Ahhh college basketball. There really is nothing quite like it.

The pageantry, the rivalries and even the improbable 16 seed taking down the 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Words cannot describe how excited I am to see what this season has to offer.

One of the teams eager to start the 2023-2024 season is the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Tar Heels are hungry to avenge last season, as the program went from making the National Championship game in 2022 to missing the NCAA tournament in 2022-23.

The Tar Heels will kick off their season hosting the Radford Highlanders. With a preseason ranking of No. 3 in the ACC, I would expect the Tar Heels to get off to a big start.

But this is an experienced Highlanders team that’s picked to finish second in the Big South.

Let’s break down this matchup and see if we can uncover some betting value.

The Highlanders were an inexperienced group last season, but they exceeded expectations, finishing third in the Big South. In fact, they return a lot of key starting pieces, and there’s hope this group can make some noise in its conference this season.

Of course, this is a lopsided matchup on paper.

There are a few major concerns I have for the Highlanders that will prevent them from pulling off this improbable upset.

First off, this offense was an absolute snail last season, as the Highlanders finished 313th in tempo. I wouldn’t expect much of a shift from this offensive approach.

Secondly, this will once again be one of the smallest teams in the entire nation. This group was 325th in height, which is a huge problem when you have to deal with Armando Bacot all evening long.

Simply put, I do like some of the experience the Highlanders have at guard, especially former Villanova transfer Bryan Antoine and DaQuan Smith. I just worry that this slow-tempo offense will be forced out of rhythm early on and will struggle with the Tar Heels’ size.

If you read my ACC season preview, you already know how high I am on this Tar Heels team. I think the departure of Caleb Love will really help the duo of RJ Davis and Bacot.

I expect this offense to flow through both Davis and Bacot, and I really like incoming five-star freshman guard Elliot Cadeau. If the Heels can get consistent offense from him, they’re going to be extremely tough to stop.

North Carolina’s biggest issue last season was hitting consistent 3s, but I believe Love was the biggest contributor to that problem. With Davis in full command of this offense, there should be a lot more spacing on the floor.

Defensively, the Heels are expected to be among the best in the nation in adjusted defense. Per KenPom, they’re projected to be in the top 24 in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency.

With a tempo and height advantage, this is setting up to be a tasty matchup for this Heels defense. UNC should shut down any sort of offensive threat on the inside, and this matchup could get ugly in a hurry.

KenPom makes this game UNC -18, so I don’t see a ton of value on this spread. However, I think this is a good spot to take the under.

The Highlanders are going to have a hard time generating offense with their lack of length, and their snail-paced offense will not help them either. The Heels should be able to take away any threat of inside scoring, and I trust this backcourt to stifle Antoine and company.

I expect the Heels to come out and make a big statement, but that should allow them to slow down the tempo late in the second half. We could see a lot of bench minutes if the Heels maintain a 20+ point lead, which is another reason I’m a bit wary of swallowing the points.

Let’s kick off the 2023-2024 hoops season with an under-winner.

Pick: Under 142 (Play to 140)

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