Duke vs North Carolina Prediction, Odds & Best Bet for February 4 (Can Blue Devils Remain Perfect at Home?)

Duke vs North Carolina Prediction, Odds & Best Bet for February 4 (Can Blue Devils Remain Perfect at Home?)

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Duke vs North Carolina Game Info

  • 2022-23 NCAA Basketball Regular Season Game
  • Duke (16-6, 7-4 ACC) vs. North Carolina (15-7, 7-4 ACC)
  • Date: Saturday, February 4, 2023
  • Time: 6:30 PM ET
  • Venue: Cameron Indoor Stadium -- Durham, North Carolina

One of college basketball's biggest rivalries will be re-ignited Saturday night as the Duke Blue Devils go one-on-one with the North Carolina Tar Heels in an ACC clash.

Duke won for the second time in as many games with a 75-73 victory over Wake Forest on Tuesday. Meanwhile, North Carolina looks to get back on track after Wednesday's 65-64 loss to Pittsburgh ended the Tar Heels' winning streak at four games.

Does Duke have what it takes to remain perfect at home? Or will North Carolina be the first team to defeat the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium this season?

Duke vs North Carolina Odds & Spread

Duke enters this contest as the slim home favorite on the moneyline and spread per FanDuel Sportsbook's odds. This 6:30 p.m. ET clash also features an over/under of 145.5 points with the under being favored at -115 odds.

Duke vs North Carolina Betting Trends

  • Against the spread, Duke is 8-14-0 this season.
  • The Blue Devils' ATS record as 3.5-point favorites or more is 7-10.
  • There have been nine Duke's games (out of 22) that went over the total this year.
  • Against the spread, North Carolina is 7-15-0 this year.
  • The Tar Heels are winless ATS (0-2) when playing as at least 3.5-point underdogs this year.
  • There have been 10 North Carolina games (out of 22) that went over the total this season.
Duke Rank Duke AVG North Carolina AVG North Carolina Rank
156th 72.9 Points Scored 78.5 36th
38th 63.7 Points Allowed 71.7 246th
15th 36.4 Rebounds 36.1 22nd
9th 11.8 Off. Rebounds 9.1 141st
245th 6.9 3pt Made 6.7 261st
80th 14.7 Assists 12.4 245th
149th 11.8 Turnovers 10.9 63rd

Duke vs North Carolina Prediction & Pick

There are a few reasons why I can't see North Carolina picking up the win tonight. For starters, UNC is 2-4 straight up on the road while also going 1-4 ATS in its last five away games, displaying an inability to keep things close. On top of that, the Tar Heels have yet to win a game as underdogs, going 0-3 in that scenario.

As mentioned before, Duke has yet to taste defeat at Cameron Indoor Stadium. On top of being 11-0 in their owning building, the Blue Devils only allow 59.8 PPG at home, where they own a plus-18.8 scoring margin. For reference, the Tar Heels are only plus-0.5 on the road.

It's going to be a back-and-forth contests, but Duke's strong play at home will prevail in the end.

Final Score Prediction: Duke: 73 | North Carolina: 71

Duke vs North Carolina Best Bet

Even though I see Duke winning tonight, I wouldn't count North Carolina out just yet. After all, the Tar Heels have won four of their last five games against the Tar Heels. Furthermore, UNC is 9-2 ATS in its last 11 games against Duke — a team that has failed to cover the spread in seven of its last eight games this season.

With the Blue Devils being 1-4 ATS at home thus far, look for North Carolina to keep things close and, potentially, pull off an upset.

Bet: North Carolina +2.5 (-104)

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.