North Carolina at Portland 11/24/22 - College Basketball Picks & Predictions

The North Carolina Tar Heels will be in Portland, OR Thursday afternoon for a match up with the Portland Pilots. North Carolina comes into their fifth game of the season undefeated and ranked number one in the nation following a 16 point win against James Madison. Defensively North Carolina was dominated in their last game holding James Madison to only 64 points on 34.8% shooting from the floor, while forcing 9 turnovers in the game. Offensively North Carolina played well making 44.3% of their shots to score 80 points in the game after a 45 point first half.

Armando Bacot is the offensive leader for North Carolina this season averaging 18.2 points to go along with a team high 11.8 rebounds per game. Caleb Love is second on the team averaging 17.8 points and RJ Davis chips in a third best 15.8 points as well. Pete Nance is the 4th Tar Heel in double figures averaging 10.5 points on 53.8% shooting from the floor.

The Portland Pilots come into Thursday with four wins for their first six games played following a 12 point loss to Seattle. Defensively Portland struggled immensely in their last game with Seattle scored 80 points on 53.2% shooting from the floor at 38.5% from beyond the arc. Offensively Portland was mediocre scoring 68 points in the game after a 42 point first half but shot only 41.1% and turned the ball over 12 times in the loss.

Tyler Robertson is leading the way for the Portland offense this season averaging 17.5 points on 41.4% shooting to go along with a team high 4.3 assists per game. Moses Wood averages a second best 13.8 points and leads the team with 7.6 rebounds per game, while Kristian Sjolund is averaging 12.2 points per game as well.