College Basketball Betting: North Carolina at Virginia Tech

Roy Williams' Heels could have 10 losses by the end of the week. (AP Images)

The “glass half empty” story of this college basketball season has to be defending NCAA champ North Carolina, as the Heels enter Thursday’s game at Virginia Tech having lost four of five games and are third-from-last in the ACC. UNC (13-8, 7-12 ATS) must start to make a run to have any shot at an at-large NCAA tourney berth, but it is a 3.5-point dog tonight on Bodog’s college basketball odds.

The Tar Heels were just handed their worst home loss since 2003 last time out by an unranked Virginia team. “How can you go any lower?" coach Roy Williams asked afterward. UNC finishes with six of its final 10 ACC games on the road, and it has just one road win this season (2-2 ATS). The Heels did beat Virginia Tech for one of its two conference wins, 78-64, in their ACC opener on Jan. 10. Carolina trailed by four at the half but shot better than 65 percent in the second half. The key that day was point guard Larry Drew II, who didn’t miss a shot all day and finished with 14 points, eight assists and two turnovers. When he struggles, the Heels tend to lose.

Virginia Tech (16-4, 7-7 ATS) is in obviously better shape than UNC but is squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble with no quality wins. The Hokies are 10-0 at home this season (2-3 ATS), but none of those victories came against an expected NCAA Tournament team. Guard Malcolm Delaney leads the team in scoring and was a one-man show in the first meeting with Carolina, scoring 26 points to go with five rebounds and six assists. Tech had 12 made free throws in that game, with Delaney accounting for all of them.

When making your college basketball bet on this one at Bodog, know that Carolina has won five straight in this series and is 18-5 all-time in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech’s frontline starters had only 13 points in the first meeting, and the big Heels should dominate up front again tonight as their frontcourt starting trio combined for 46 points back on Jan. 10.

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