North Carolina has reeled off three straight wins and hit the road in an ACC game facing a slumping Clemson squad.
North Carolina has won three in a row and they have won their last two games by double figures. The team is unranked but still in the ACC race at 6-3 and they are 11-5 overall.
When Clemson had their game at UNC postponed due to COVID-19 they were the 19th ranked team in the nation. Since then they have dropped four of their last five games and in their last loss fell under .500 in conference play. The Tigers were throttled by Duke in their last game while in the previous one beat a ranked Louisville team.
Solid Game, For the Most Part
UNC was on the road in their last game beating Pittsburgh 75-65 where they played well on both ends of the floor but did not have the best game shooting the 3 or from the free-throw line. The Tar Heels shot 52.5% from the floor holding the Panthers to 41.8% but missed 13 of their 17 3-pointers and were only 50% (7-14) from the charity stripe.Forward Armando Bacot (12.6 ppg 7.8 rpg) leads UNC in scoring and rebounding and scored a season-high 21 points to go with 10 rebounds in the win against Pitt. He has been on the main reasons for the win streak, as in his last three games shot at least 66.7% from the floor and averaged 18.7 ppg. Fellow 6’10” FW Garrison Brooks (10.6 ppg 7.1 rpg) had 16 points on 72.7% shooting in the last game after struggling with his shot for two straight games where he totaled 14 points. G Caleb Love (10.4 ppg is only shooting 31% from the floor in his freshman season and he had eight points in the Pitt game after totaling 35 points in his previous two games.
On the season, the Tar Heels are 2-4 on the road.
Bad Start in Bad Loss
In their last game, Clemson was on the road and lost to Duke 79-53 where they got off to a bad start being outscored 41-22 in the first half. The Tigers only shot 35.1% from the floor and did not shoot the 3 well (23.8%) and they allowed the Blue Devils to shoot 45.9%.Forward Aamir Simms (12.5 ppg 5.9 rpg) is the Tigers leading scorer and rebounder and only player for the team averaging over 8.8 ppg. He has done his part as of late, as in three of the last four games, including the last two, he has scored at least 16 points on at least 50% shooting. Guard Nick Honor (8.8 ppg) has only totaled nine points in his last three games and in the loss to Duke was 1-9 from the floor. Guard Al-Amir Dawes (8.5 ppg) only had six points on 33.3% shooting in the Duke game while going for 15 points in his previous game.
Clemson is 6-1 at home this season.
Jim Powers Free Pick:
Clemson +3 over North Carolina
