Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs North Carolina Tar Heels Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 01/21/26

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish head to Chapel Hill to face the North Carolina Tar Heels. This matchup features two teams that both very much need to win, and the intensity should be high. The Heels suffered a pair of losses on their California road trip last week, losing to both Stanford and Cal. The Irish have lost 4 of their first 5 conference games, and 4 of their last 5 overall as well. This is a tough road spot for the Irish, and Carolina will be looking to bounce back from a frustrating road trip. I think the best play here is Carolina to cover -11.5.

The biggest issue for the Irish is that they lost their best player a few weeks ago. Markus Burton is a pure scorer, the kind of guy that can put up 20+ points every night. This Notre Dame team has not been right at all in his absence. Carolina was missing their star guard for a long while too, but he is back now, and the Tar Heels are a talented and dangerous team. Notre Dame does not force turnovers, and their outside shooting game has been inconsistent. On the other side, we know the Heels are going to score, and their balanced attack should be too much for the Irish. I think North Carolina wins this one going away.

Notre Dame vs North Carolina Prediction: North Carolina -11.5 (-110). Playable to -13.5.