They smelled of pubs and Wormwood Scrubs and too many right wing meetings. "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" - The Jam
(6) North Carolina Tar Heels
78 – 82 OT
FINAL Neutral NCAA Tournament
(11) VCU Rams
Bon Secours Wellness Arena (Neutral) · March 19, 2026
Betting Lines
Spread UNC -2.5 Away covered
O/U 150.5 Over
Money UNC -155 / VCU +130
Model Predictions
Spread Total UNC win
Actual VCU +4 160 Lost
Massey UNC -4.5 (-8.5) — —
Massey Totals — 153.5 (+6.5) —
Bradley-Terry — — 70% ✗
Weighted B-T — — 69% ✗
Baseline Tuned ML UNC -2.1 (-6.1) 144.0 (+16.0) 58% ✗
Efficiency Plus ML ★ UNC -2.7 (-6.7) 143.9 (+16.1) 54% ✗
Baseline Plus ML UNC -1.3 (-5.3) 144.3 (+15.7) 53% ✗
Baseline ML UNC -2.4 (-6.4) 143.3 (+16.7) 55% ✗

Predictions use only rating snapshots dated before tip-off. Parenthesised values are the signed error vs. the actual result. Model performance →

Team Comparison

Record & Ratings UNC VCU
Overall 24-9 28-8
Conference 12-6 15-3
Home 18-0 15-2
Away 4-6 7-3
Neutral 2-3 6-3
Last 5 3-2 5-0
Streak L3 L1
Avg Pts For 79.7 80.8
Avg Pts Against 71.6 71.8
Massey 16.4 (#25) 11.9 (#48)
Bradley-Terry 3.08 (#20) 2.22 (#41)
W. Bradley-Terry 3.59 (#23) 2.79 (#43)
RPI 0.625 (#10) 0.595 (#28)
Shooting & Four Factors UNC VCU
FG% 47.3% 46.0%
3PT% 34.5% 36.7%
REB / G 38.0 36.7
OREB / G 10.8 11.2
AST / TO 1.65 1.34
Four Factors — Offense
eFG% 54.6% 54.1%
TOV% 14.1% 15.2%
ORB% 31.4% 32.3%
FT Rate 25.6% 32.3%
Four Factors — Defense
Opp eFG% 48.2% 48.9%
Opp TOV% 13.6% 17.2%
DRB% 71.9% 70.1%
Opp FT Rate 16.7% 23.6%

Game Analysis

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