The Virginia Cavaliers are hosting the North Carolina Tar Heels tonight in ACC College Basketball action. The game is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN. Currently the betting odds for the game have the Cavaliers favored at home in this contest between ranked teams.

This could be the biggest came of the day on the college schedule. Both North Carolina and Virginia are ranked inside the Top 10 nationally and both have excellent RPIs on the season. There’s potential for both schools to end up on the top two seed lines for the NCAA Tournament as well, the winner of tonight’s game could have an even bigger chance at being a possible No. 1 with an excellent win.

North Carolina is coming off two straight convincing wins following the loss at Duke. The Tar Heels have a ton of talent and rank inside the Top 30 nationally on both adjusted offense and defensive efficiency. The Heels can score with any team in the country, but being able to get key stops and play well enough on that end of the court can trouble them at times.

Virginia is going to slow this game down considerably. The Cavaliers play at a much slower pace than North Carolina is accustomed to and it will be interesting to see which team is able to dictate the style of play. Coming off two losses in the last three games overall, Virginia will have to rely on excellent play from Malcolm Brogdon and London Perrantes.

Carolina can match up with them, but Marcus Paige has to have a better offensive approach. He seems to have fallen in love with the 3-pointer too much this season and at times it has hurt the Tar Heels in big spots. North Carolina could be a potential Final Four team if they consistently feed the basketball inside to bigs Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson. Come tournament time they will be able to beat up on opponents inside, but it could be difficult today against a great defensive team in Virginia.

Free Pick: North Carolina

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