On Friday, March 21, 2025, the North Carolina Tar Heels will face the Ole Miss Rebels in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. After North Carolina won in the First Four on Tuesday night, they will look to pick up a second straight tournament win in this contest. To do so, they will need to beat an Ole Miss team that is battle-tested after playing in the best conference in college basketball this season.
The latest odds from sports betting sites have Ole Miss as a 1.5-point favorite going into this matchup. Meanwhile, the total for the game has been set at 152.5, with a high-scoring game expected. Here, we break down North Carolina vs Ole Miss and make our best bet for this matchup between the 11-seed and 6-seed in the South Region.
North Carolina Looks For Second Straight Win
Many felt that the North Carolina Tar Heels did not deserve to make the NCAA Tournament field, myself included. But the Tar Heels temporarily silenced their critics in the First Four on Tuesday, when they blew the San Diego State Aztecs out in the first half to cruise to the Round of 64. Now the Tar Heels will look for another tournament win, as Hubert Davis’ team looks to operate at a high level offensively once again.
The guards of North Carolina were brilliant in the first half of their win over San Diego State on Tuesday. RJ Davis and Elliot Cadeau went a combined 8/10 from the field to start that game, including a combined 4/4 from three-point range. That hot start took so much pressure off of this team and another great game from that guard duo could help the Heels pull off an upset here.
Ole Miss Hopes to End Tar Heels’ Season
When we last saw the Ole Miss Rebels, they went toe-to-toe with the Auburn Tigers in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament. Ole Miss fell short in that game, losing by a score of 62-57. But that defensive performance will certainly provide some positives for the Rebels to look at going into NCAA Tournament play, where Ole Miss enters as an at-large team.
Ole Miss is led by Sean Pedulla, who averages 14.9 points and 3.6 assists per game, both tops for this Rebels team. Pedulla hit a game-winning three against Arkansas in the second round of the SEC tournament. While the Rebels hope that more of Pedulla’s heroics won’t be necessary late in this game, they will be comforted to know that Pedulla is there if they need him.
North Carolina vs Ole Miss Prediction
Ole Miss -1.5 (-110) over North Carolina
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Claim Bonus - Ole Miss has a rest advantage going into this game and should be able to leverage that into a first-round win.
- We still don’t think North Carolina should have made the tournament, even if they won in the First Four.
