In game one of the ACC Semifinals on Friday, the 4^th-seed Pittsburgh Panthers will face the 1^st-seed North Carolina Tar Heels. The ACC Tournament is taking place in Washington, D.C., at the Capital One Arena, and this matchup will tip off at 7:00 PM ET on Friday evening.

Despite finishing in 4^th place in the ACC Conference with a conference record of 12-8 and an overall record of 22-10, the Pittsburgh Panthers were on the bubble to make the NCAA Tournament and may still be on the bubble despite defeating the 5^th-seed Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the Quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Thursday by a score of 81-69. 

The Panthers ended the season winning four of their final four games and are on a four-game winning streak following the win against the Demon Deacons on Thursday. The Panthers were blown out at home against the North Carolina Tar Heels in their only other matchup this season by a score of 57-70. However, they have won 10 of their last 12 games and have been on fire offensively over their previous four games this season, averaging 85 points per game during their winning streak and have won by an average margin of 15 points per game during the stretch with their closest matchup coming at home against the North Carolina State Wolfpack, a team that just defeated the 2^nd best team in the ACC, by a score of 81-73. 

The Panthers will look to get their 11^th win in their last 13 games and avenge their loss earlier this season against the Tar Heels when they face North Carolina in the ACC Semifinals.

North Carolina has been on a tear recently, winning their last seven games, including a 92-67 win in their ACC Quarterfinals matchup against the Florida State Seminoles on Thursday afternoon. The Tar Heels are one of the hottest teams in college basketball and won the ACC regular season title with a conference record of 17-3. and have had an excellent bounce-back season this year after missing the NCAA Tournament last season. The Tar Heels are looking at a 2 seed that could improve to a 1 seed depending on how the ACC tournament and other conference tournaments play out this season under 3^rd-year head coach Hubert Davis. 

North Carolina also enters this game shooting the ball exceptionally well over during their winning streak as they are averaging 80.57 points per game with only having scored under 75 points in one of their last 16 games, which came against one of the top defensive teams in the nation, the Virginia Cavaliers, on the road but still resulted in a 54-44 win. Senior guard R.J. Davis has been a driving force behind the offensive efficiency the Tar Heels have had this season and is tied for 13^th in the nation in points per game with an average of 21.1 points per game. 

The North Carolina Tar Heels defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers convincingly in their only other matchup this season by a score of 70-57. When the two teams square off on Friday evening in the ACC Semifinals, they will look to repeat that performance and advance to the ACC Championship game.

WagerWeb lists the North Carolina Tar Heels as 7.5-point favorites against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the ACC Semifinals on Friday evening. Pittsburgh has dominated the series against North Carolina, winning five of the last seven. However, North Carolina has had one of its best seasons recently. This season, it defeated the Panthers by a score of 70-57 and covered the spread as a 4.5-point road favorite.

North Carolina has been the best team in the ACC this season, and while Pittsburgh has been one of the better teams in the conference, they aren’t on the same level as the Tar Heels, as evidenced by the 57-70 defeat at home earlier this season. North Carolina’s offensive play is likely too much for the Panthers in this game, so I am buying the .5 point and laying the points with the North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday evening.