The UNC-Wilmington Seahawks will take on the North Carolina Tar Heels at 7 p.m. ET on Friday at Raiford G. Trask Coliseum. UNC-Wilmington is 1-0 overall and 1-0 at home, while North Carolina is 1-0 overall and is playing its first road game of the season. No. 9 North Carolina ended last year first in the ACC, while UNC-Wilmington ended up 10th in the Colonial. The two programs went head-to-head last December, with North Carolina winning 97-69. However, that final score resulted in a push against the spread with North Carolina favored by 28. The Tar Heels are favored by 22.5 points in the latest North Carolina vs. UNC-Wilmington odds, while the over-under is set at 161.5. Before you make any North Carolina vs. UNC-Wilmington picks and predictions, you'll want to see what the SportsLine Projection Model is saying.
The model, which simulates every game 10,000 times, has crushed its top-rated against the spread college basketball picks the past three years, returning $2,770 to $100 players. It began the 2019-20 season hitting 60 percent of its top-rated spread selections.
Now, it has simulated North Carolina vs. UNC-Wilmington 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Under, and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in well over 50 percent of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
UNC-Wilmington made easy work of Johnson & Wales (NC) and carried off a 103-83 win in it last outing. The Seahawks had five players score in double-figures in the win, with Jaylen Sims leading UNC-Wilmington scorers with 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Sims was largely a reserve last season, averaging 5.7 points per game in 18.9 minutes per contest. The Seahawks' defense overwhelmed an outmanned Johnson & Wales squad, forcing 23 turnovers en route to the win.
Meanwhile, North Carolina took care of business in its home opener. The Tar Heels took down Notre Dame 76-65, covering as 9.5-point favorites and taking their against-the-spread record to 6-2 in the last eight games. North Carolina true freshman guard Cole Anthony looked sharp as he shot 6 of 11 from beyond the arc and finished with a double-double on 34 points and 11 rebounds in addition to five assists. Garrison Brooks was the only other player in double-figures for the Tar Heels, as the junior scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds while playing 39 minutes.
So who wins UNC-Wilmington vs. North Carolina? And which side of the spread hits well over 50 percent of the time? Visit SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread to back on Friday, all from the advanced model that has crushed its college football picks.
