Marquette vs. North Carolina Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
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Nik Kowalski
Hubert Davis is ready for his March Madness coaching debut and has one of the hottest teams in the nation in No. 8 North Carolina as they face off with No. 9 Marquette in the Round of 64 Thursday. The Tar Heels closed out the regular season on a 12-3 run, highlighted by a double-digit win at Duke on March 5. Marquette went 19-12 this season but faced a tough schedule that included 12 top-25 games – they went 6-6 including a sweep over No. 2 Villanova.
Tip off goes at Dickies Arena in Forth Worth, Texas at 4:30 EDT. The Tar Heels are three-point favourites, with the over-under at 152 on the NCCAB odds.
Marquette Golden Eagles vs. North Carolina Tar Heels NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The Tar Heels are both hot straight up and against the spread, covering in four of their last five outings. Marquette’s the opposite, going 4-6 straight up and 3-6-1 ATS in their last 10. Nine of the North Carolina’s last 13 went over the total, as have seven of their last 10 when they’re the favourite.
Each team is averaging over 74 points a game, but allowing over 70 in return. North Carolina is the better shooting team of the two, ranking 17th in the nation in free throws and 55th in three-point percentage.
Marquette Golden Eagles (9)
Junior Armando Bacot is a beast for the Tar Heels and averaged a double-double on the season with 16.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per showing, both team highs. Sophomore guard Caleb Love and senior Brady Manek finished behind Bacot in scoring and are a duo who could be selected in this year’s NBA draft. Love averaged over 15 points and knocked down 74 threes, while Manek had 14.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game after transferring from Oklahoma.
Thanks to their two bigs, North Carolina finished 18th in the country with nearly 40 rebounds per game. They control the paint, knock down free throws, and always put up a fight In March.
North Carolina Tar Heels (8)
A six-game win streak in January put Shaka Smart’s squad in the clear to get a tournament bid, but they went on to go without back-to-back wins in their final 10 appearances which ended in a Big East quarterfinal loss to Creighton.
Freshman forward Justin Lewis led the club in both points (17.1) and rebounds (7.9) this season while being the only Golden Eagle averaging over 30 minutes a game. Guard Darryl Morsell is Marquette’s other double-digit scorer and shoots nearly 45 per cent from the arc over a five-year career. Morsell played his first four seasons at Maryland and has started nearly 140 NCAA games.
MARQ
UNC