NC State at Boston College

Time: 5 PM CST (ACC Network)

Spread: NC ST -4.5

Total: 141

Odds c/o 5dimes

The NC State Wolfpack is 16-8 this season and travels to face Boston College as 4.5-point favorites at 5 PM CST Sunday on the ACC Network. NCAA basketball oddsmakers at 5dimes have set the point total at 141 for the game.

NC State

NC State enters as winners of its last two. It defeated Miami (FL) 83-72 and knocked off Syracuse 79-74 last outing, both of those games on the road for the Wolfpack. NC State is led by guard CJ Bryce who averages 14 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.6 blocks/steals per game while shooting 48 percent from the floor and 39.3 percent from three-point range. His backcourt mate Markell Johnson is No. 2 in scoring (13.0), No. 4 in rebounding (4.5) and leads the team in assists with 6.7 per game. DJ Funderburn and Devon Daniels round out the double-digit scorers for the Wolfpack, with 12.3 and 12.0 points per game, respectively.

The Wolfpack rank No. 99 in the nation in scoring at 74.5 points per game, but it allows just 69.1 per game, which ranks among the best. The Wolfpack had a three-game skid before its most recent two wins, which saw it fall to Georgia Tech, UNC, and Louisville, all conference foes. NC State is 7-6 in ACC play and in fifth place in the Conference, trailing 12-2 Duke by 4.5 games. Still, the Wolfpack sport enough talent and options to pose a threat to any team in the ACC tournament, including the Blue Devils. It will get a chance to prove that soon with Duke and Florida State next on its schedule.

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B.C.

Boston College is 12-13 and just 6-8 in ACC play. The Eagles have lost three of its last five, with two of those three losses coming to ranked Louisville and Duke. Derryck Thornton leads BC in scoring at just 12.7 points per game, while adding 3.5 assists (a team-high). Jay Heath averages 12.5 points per game while shooting 37.5 percent from three. Nik Popovic is the third-highest scorer at 10.3 points per game, and he is No. 2 in rebounding (5.0).

The Eagles average only 64.6 points per game while allowing 69.0, and it assists just 12.4 field goals per night. It is not a potent offense, though the defensive effort has been fine for the most part. It is just a matter of Boston College not having the elite talents that the other ACC teams seem to possess in abundance. Jordan Nwora scored 37 for Louisville in the 69-86 loss and there was simply no one on the Eagles roster to match that kind of scoring night. That ultimately limits the Eagles’ upside, and with NC State having a few great weapons there is the chance that even in this matchup against the Wolfpack, that someone really gets it going and leaves the Eagles chasing them in the dust, even as just 4.5-point underdogs.

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