Ohio State Buckeyes vs North Carolina Tar Heels Prediction, 12/20/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Ohio State Buckeyes vs North Carolina Tar Heels

Date: Saturday, December 20, 2025

Location: State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA

TV: ESPN+

State Farm Arena is the site where the North Carolina Tar Heels (10-1) will compete against the Ohio State Buckeyes (8-2) on Saturday.

The Ohio State Buckeyes stepped onto the hardwood against West Virginia and walked away with a win by a score of 89-88 in their last contest. Concerning personal fouls, the Buckeyes ended up finishing with 22 and West Virginia finished the game with 21 personal fouls. They converted 12 out of their 26 tries from 3-point land. West Virginia shot 76.5% at the free throw line by converting 26 of their 34 attempts. Furthermore, West Virginia grabbed 35 rebounds (11 offensive, 24 defensive), but didn't notch a rejection. West Virginia dished out 15 dimes and had 5 steals for the matchup. With respect to defense, Ohio State allowed the other team to go 39.7% from the field on 25 of 63 shooting. They also doled out 19 assists in this matchup as well as forcing the opposition into 17 turnovers and getting 6 steals. When talking about pulling down boards, they collected 40 with 12 of them being on the offensive end. At the free throw line, the Buckeyes knocked down 21 of their 25 attempts for a percentage of 84.0%. Ohio State finished having earned a 44.4% FG percentage (32 of 72) and made 4 of their 21 3-point shots.

Bruce Thornton is a guy who played a role in this game. He finished the game shooting 47.1% from the field and also earned 4 dimes. He was on the court for 49 minutes and pulled down 3 rebounds. He accounted for 23 points on 8 of 17 shooting.

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Ohio State comes into this one with a win-loss record of 8-2 this season. They turn the ball over 11.2 times per game and as a unit they commit 17.9 fouls every game. As a team, Ohio State is collecting 37.3 boards per contest and has 171 dimes this year, which is 126th in the country in terms of passing. The Buckeyes are hitting 34.8% on shots beyond the perimeter (86 of 247) and 77.9% from the free throw line. They are averaging 87.6 points per contest (40th in the country) while shooting 51.2% from the field.

Defensively, the Buckeyes are able to force 12.2 turnovers per game and they draw 21.4 fouls. They concede 30.4% on 3-point shots and they are 176th in college hoops in PPG allowed (72.9). The Buckeyes defense is allowing an opponent shooting percentage of 41.8% (255 of 610) and they relinquish 31.3 boards per game as a unit. They rank 76th in D-1 in giving up assists with 124 relinquished on the season.

When they last stepped on the court, the North Carolina Tar Heels went home victorious with a score of 77-58 when they faced East Tennessee State. The Tar Heels pulled down 28 defensive boards and 7 offensive boards totaling 35 in the matchup. They also gave up possession of the ball 7 times, while getting 3 steals in this matchup. East Tennessee State committed 19 personal fouls in this contest which took the Tar Heels to the charity stripe for 23 shots. They were able to bury 15 of those for a percentage of 65.2%. In regard to shooting from downtown, North Carolina buried 8 out of 25 tries (32.0%). When the final whistle blew, the Tar Heels finished 27 out of 50 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 54.0%. The Tar Heels permitted East Tennessee State to make 20 of 52 tries from the floor which had them at 38.5% for the matchup. They went 30.4% from beyond the perimeter by connecting on 7 of 23 and ended up going 11 of 16 at the free throw line (68.8%). With respect to team rebounding, North Carolina allowed East Tennessee State to get 21 overall (5 offensive).

Henri Veesaar was important for the Tar Heels for this contest. He made 10 of 11 in this contest for a rate of 90.9%, and earned 8 rebounds. He scored 26 points in his 28 mins on the court and earned 2 assists in the matchup.

North Carolina has a win-loss record of 10-1 this year. In terms of offensive execution, the Tar Heels are connecting on 47.2% from the floor, which is ranked 106th in college. North Carolina has scored 888 points this season (80.7 per contest) and they snag 42.1 rebounds per game. They are assisting teammates 16.5 times per game (79th in college) and they turn it over 10.2 times per contest. The Tar Heels are responsible for committing 14.8 fouls per game and they hit 69.6% from the charity stripe.

The Tar Heels on the defensive end are ranked 19th in college in points per game surrendered with 64.1. They are forcing their opponents into 9.4 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 37.0% from the floor (10th in the country). The North Carolina defense concedes 30.3% on 3-point shots (74 of 244) and their opponents are connecting on 70.2% of their shots from the free throw line. They surrender 10.5 dimes and 32.6 rebounds on a nightly basis, which is ranked 29th and 95th in the nation.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take North Carolina

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