Can Tar Heels Upset Jayhawks? Early Season Showdown Promises Unexpected Twist

Friday night hoops? Now that’s a rare gem when college basketball sneaks in before the weekend onslaught. And oh, what a way to shake up the routine—Kansas Jayhawks versus North Carolina Tar Heels, two teams itching to rewrite early-season narratives. Both squads carry the weight of last year’s near misses and promise fresh faces itching to leave their mark. The Jayhawks boast a flashy new recruit lighting up the floor, while the Tar Heels counter with transferee firepower and a freshman phenom making waves. So, here’s the kicker: when college basketball breaks the mold and crashes your Friday night, will history repeat itself, or are we on the cusp of something wildly unexpected? Buckle up—this game’s got all the twists that make you question if home court advantage still holds the crown. Dive into the full story and see which factors tip the scales tonight. LEARN MORE

Kansas vs. North Carolina, 7:00 ET

College Basketball on a Friday night? Sign me up! I know college is typically a Saturday thing for most, but with College Football still in season, there are going to be more big games during the week than on the weekend. I personally love hoops, and am glad to get it any day of the week. I lost my first play in the college season, but I’m ready to come back and get a win here in tonight’s game. This is a big early season matchup as the Kansas Jayhawks take on the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Kansas enters the game as the 19th-ranked team in the country and winners of their first contest. It wasn’t exactly a fair matchup as the Jayhawks played Green Bay, and trounced them 94-51. Looking back on last year, it can really only be described as a disappointment. The team struggled late in the season, but also were never really a dominant squad. They lost in the Big 12 Quarterfinal to the Arizona Wildcats, and then lost in the tournament to Arkansas. They did add three strong players to their roster as Tre White, Jayden Dawson, and Melvin Council all came over via the transfer portal. However, they lost their top two scorers, Hunter Dickinson and Zeke Mayo, to professional leagues. In addition, Rakease Passmore, David Coit, AJ Storr, Rylan Griffen, and Zach Clemence all left for other schools. They did themselves one big favor by securing one of the best freshmen available in Darryn Peterson. He looked good in his debut, scoring 21 points in 22 minutes on 7-of-11 shooting.

North Carolina is fairly identical to Kansas. They are also 1-0 and are a top 25-ranked team, but they are 25th. Their season last year was a little bit better than Kansas, but not by much. They played for the ACC Championship, and Duke ended up beating them by just three points. In the NCAA Tournament, they took down San Diego State (First Four) with ease before losing to Ole Miss in the 1st round. The team did lose their top two scorers as well, with RJ Davis in the G league and Ian Jackson headed to St. John’s. They had a nice recruiting class, both of incoming freshmen and via the transfer portal. They nabbed one of the top-10 players overall, and potentially best Power Forward in the freshman class in Caleb Wilson. Derek Dixon and Isaiah Denis both should be good additions to the backcourt as well. There are a few guys who came via the transfer portal who will make a big impact rather quickly. Jarin Stevenson, Henri Veesaar, and Kyan Evans all started in the first game, and all are transfer players. Wilson has 22 points in 25 minutes on 8-of-10 shooting.

I would’ve recommended the total to all of you, but I’m afraid it has gotten away from us. Now you need both teams to score roughly 80 points, and while that is certainly possible, it isn’t great considering you could’ve gotten the number at 153.5 earlier in the week. I didn’t do this earlier in the week, but the biggest piece for handicapping basketball is to simply remember that college teams are typically bad on the road. Both teams look fairly evenly matched and in that case, you take the team, at home, to cover the short number. Back North Carolina to win this one by the -2.5.

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