Saint Peter’s vs. North Carolina Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
The No. 15 Saint Peter’s Peacocks are the breakout story of this year’s tournament and now meet the No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels in the East Region final Sunday. Saint Peter’s knocked off No. 3 Purdue on Friday — the Peacocks’ third tournament win versus a top-eight seed. North Carolina completed an upset of their own Friday, defeating No 4. UCLA.
Both clubs have now gone through the East’s top four seeds, and the winner gets No. 2 Duke next Saturday in the Final Four. Tip-off at Wells Fargo Center is 5:05 p.m. EDT with UNC an 8.5-point favourite and the over-under at 137 on the NCAAB odds.
Saint Peter’s vs. North Carolina NCAA Tournament Point Spread, Betting
Getting to the Elite Eight may not be the most impressive thing about Saint Peter’s run — going 10-0 against the spread in their last 10 outings may be more impressive. The Tar Heels are on quite an against-the-spread (ATS) run themselves with covers in seven of their last eight. Both teams are 3-0 ATS in the tournament.
When it comes to playing on Sundays, these teams share another prominent trend. The under is 13-3 in North Carolina’s last 16 games played on a Sunday and 9-2 in Saint Peter’s last 11 Sunday bouts. Both teams started the tournament 2-0 to the over and had their Sweet Sixteen victories finish under the total.
Saint Peter’s Peacocks (15)
Defence was the key for the Peacocks in their victory over Purdue Friday. Saint Peter’s held Purdue to a tournament-low 64 points and keep in mind they averaged nearly 80 a game this year. Projected lottery pick Jaden Ivey only finished with nine points on four of 12 shooting too.
On offence, the Peacocks went just 21 for 54 from the field but got some key shots late from leading scorer Daryl Banks III and America’s new favourite basketball player, Doug Edert. Banks finished with a team-high 14 while Edert made seven free throws for his fifth-straight double-digit scoring game off the bench. If Saint Peter’s is to advance, both need to come through.
North Carolina Tar Heels (8)
Sophomore guard Caleb Love caught fire for UNC in their win over UCLA Friday, dropping a game-high 30 points to go with six made three-pointers. Centre Armando Bacot continued his tournament dominance in the paint with ith 14 points and 15 rebounds Friday. Bacot now has 46 points and 41 rebounds in UNC’s three tournament wins.
The Tar Heels didn’t put up 90 points like each of their wins last weekend, but found a way to advance while only shooting 40 per cent from the field. Another key, and often factor in the Tar Heels’ wins this season, is they outrebounded UCLA 43-34. UNC finished 10th in the country with 40.4 rebounds per contest this season.
