North Carolina pushes the pace with their three-guard attack of Elliot Cadeau, RJ Davis, and Cormac Ryan, and those three are responsible for dumping the ball down low to Armando Bacot.
That’s the Heels’ entire game plan.
So, the question is, can the Demon Deacons stop that?
Wake Forest’s defensive metrics against the sets are questionable, but they haven’t fared well against North Carolina over the past few years. The Heels have averaged 85 points per game across the past five meetings, with Bacot scoring 38 across two matchups last season.
Wake Forest vs. North Carolina prediction
(7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Once the Heels’ offense gets going, it’s hard to stop and they’ve proven that against Wake Forest.
However, Wake Forest has hung tough in these college basketball matchups, winning two of the past three by scoring at a similar pace.
The Demon Deacons have an isolation-heavy offense, mainly utilizing Hunter Sallis, Kevin Miller, Cam Hildreth and Andrew Carr in those sets — the four combine for 65 points per game.
North Carolina’s team defense is good, but the Heels’ individual defenders struggle on an island as they rank sub-300th nationally in isolation PPP allowed (0.89).
It’s not the worst matchup for Wake.
So, I expect fireworks when the Deacons and Heels match up Monday in Chapel Hill.
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These two offenses have solid matchups against the opposing defenses, which explains why five straight Wake Forest-North Carolina games have sailed Over the closing total.
Expect more of the same Monday and wager accordingly.
THE PICK: Over 156.5 (-110, BetMGM)