North Carolina vs Ole Miss Odds & Early Pick – Tar Heels Open as 1.5-Point Favorites

• UNC cruised through its First Four game and will meet #6 Ole Miss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
• Derided as unworthy of a berth, #11 North Carolina is now favored to advance to the second round of March Madness
• See the opening North Carolina vs Ole Miss odds plus early picks and lines to target

The North Carolina Tar Heels (23-13, 16-19-1 ATS) played with a chip on their shoulder on Tuesday night. Pundits the country over said Hubert Davis’ team didn’t have the resume to get into the 2025 NCAA Tournament. But the Heels demolished San Diego State in the First Four and are now slightly favored in their first-round matchup with #6 Ole Miss (22-11, 16-16-1 ATS) in Milwaukee on Thursday (4:05 pm ET).

North Carolina vs Ole Miss Odds

North Carolina has opened as a 1.5-point favorite and -130 on the moneyline. The Rebels come back as +130 underdogs. The game total has opened at a relatively high 152.5 in Thursday’s college basketball odds.

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Odds from DraftKings on March 18. Read SBD’s guide on how to bet on March Madness before filling out your brackets.

UNC booked its ticket to the round of 64 with an absolute laugher against San Diego State, taking a 47-23 lead by halftime growing it to 95-68 by the end of 40 minutes. The Tar Heels got contributions from up and down the lineup, led by 26 points from RJ Davis and a stellar 9-point, 12-assist night from point guard Elliott Cadeau.

North Carolina has now won nine of its last 11 games, and the only two losses in that span both came to top-ranked Duke. The most-recent of those came by one bucket (73-70) in the ACC semifinals, though Duke was playing without Cooper Flagg, the favorite in the Wooden Award odds.

UNC jumped three spots in the KenPom ratings (from 33rd to 30th) after the lopsided win over San Diego State, which is still four spots below Ole Miss.

UNC vs Ole Miss KenPom Ratings

In the table above, “SOS” stands for strength-of-schedule.

Ole Miss Stumbles Down the Stretch

Ole Miss started the season 15-2 and 4-0 in conference play in the gruelling SEC. But later returns weren’t as positive. They limed to a 10-8 finish in the SEC standings and dropped four of their last six before the conference tournament.

In the SEC Tourney, they eked out an 83-80 against Arkansas in the second round before falling 62-57 in a hard-fought battle with top-seeded Auburn.

Early North Carolina vs Ole Miss Projected Line Movement

Public sentiment is going to be with the Tar Heel on Thursday. Not only is UNC one of the biggest brands in college basketball – which still counts for something to the betting public – they are one of the hotter teams in the nation. Ole Miss, on the other hand, has dropped five of its last eight games.

All of that is to say, this line is going to move to the Tar Heels over the next 36 hours. If you are keen to bet UNC, do it early. If you like Ole Miss, you’re likely to get a better number closer to tip-off.