Clemson vs UNC Odds, Pick: Fade the Heels?

North Carolina has a stranglehold on the top spot in the ACC after beating Duke on Saturday to improve to 10-1 in the league.

Clemson lost six conference games last season but has equaled that total already this season with a 4-6 mark in ACC play.

UNC seeks the season sweep of Clemson, while the Tar Heels try to avoid a letdown after the massive victory over their rivals.

Here's NCAAB odds and a pick for Clemson vs. North Carolina.

The main thing that has gone wrong for Clemson in ACC play is 3-point shooting — both ways.

The Tigers rank last in the ACC in 3-point shooting at 30.1% but shot better from downtown in Saturday’s 66-65 home defeat to Virginia by hitting 7 of 20 (35%) attempts.

The home-road 3-point shooting numbers are interesting simply because Brad Brownell’s team has fared better away from Littlejohn Coliseum.

At home, the Tigers own a miserable 23% shooting clip on 3-pointers — 23-of-100 — but have converted on 45-of-126 tries on the road, which equates to 35.7%.

On the defensive side, the Tigers allow opponents to shoot 37.3% from long distances, but UNC ranks 12th in ACC play in 3-point shooting at 32.6%, which is a slight positive for Clemson.

In the first matchup in Chapel Hill last month, the Tigers knocked down only one 3-pointer in 18 tries of a 65-55 loss to the Tar Heels.

Leading scorer P.J. Hall was limited to 10 points against UNC, which marked the fewest points he posted against any ACC foe this season.

Clemson has put together a perfect 5-0 record against the spread this season in the underdog role, with the two straight-up losses to Duke and Memphis coming by a combined three points.

North Carolina did two things very well in its 93-84 home triumph over Duke last Saturday. The Tar Heels shot it well from 3-point range (9-of-24) and got to the charity stripe 25 times compared to 11 attempts from Duke.

As noted above, Clemson has struggled from long range this season, while UNC has been fantastic defending the 3-pointer. Hubert Davis’ club ranks first in ACC play by limiting conference opponents to 26.8% shooting from downtown while owning the best defensive efficiency mark in the league.

Senior Armando Bacot posted his best offensive game in ACC play against Duke by scoring 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, compared to the 19 combined points he scored in the previous three games.

In nine of 11 ACC games, North Carolina has grabbed at least 10 offensive rebounds and owns the top offensive rebounding percentage in conference play at 35.2%.

However, Clemson has not allowed more than 10 offensive rebounds in any of its five road ACC games.

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North Carolina stubbed its toe at Georgia Tech before the resounding win over Duke on Saturday. This feels like a letdown spot against Clemson coming off the Duke victory, as well as because UNC won the first matchup at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Despite the 3-point shooting woes for Clemson, they have shot better on the road, and its last three losses are three points or less.

Also, it's hard to ignore Clemson being perfect against the number in the underdog role this season.

Pick: Clemson +8 (Play to +7)

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