Virginia vs. NC State odds, line: 2019 ACC Tournament picks, predictions from expert on 17-11 run

The quarterfinals of the 2019 ACC Tournament get underway Thursday when the No. 1 seed Virginia Cavaliers square off against the No. 8 seed North Carolina State Wolfpack. Tipoff from the Spectrum Center is at 12:30 p.m. ET. The Wolfpack (22-10) stormed back from a 16-point halftime deficit against Clemson on Wednesday to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinal. Meanwhile, Virginia (28-2) enters Thursday’s matchup on an eight-game win streak. The latest Virginia vs. NC State odds have the Cavaliers favored by 10.5-points, while the over-under, or total points Vegas thinks will be scored, is set at 132.5. Before you make any Virginia vs. NC State picks or ACC Tournament predictions, you’ll want to see what SportsLine handicapper Michael Rusk has to say. 

Rusk built his name by exploiting flaws in public betting. With his economics and statistics background, Rusk uses multiple algorithms pooling with recency bias to produce profitable picks. That’s exactly what “The Prodigy” has been doing recently with his strong 17-11 run on college basketball picks. Anyone who has followed along is way up.

Now Rusk has done an in-depth look at Virginia vs. NC State. He has factored in that Virginia boasts the nation’s stingiest defense. The Cavaliers are holding their opponents to just 54.6 points per game, which ranks first in the country. Tony Bennett’s team is also holding opponents to an abysmal 37.4 field goal percentage.

On offense, Virginia’s trio of playmakers, De’Andre Hunter, Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome, are all averaging over 13 points per game and shooting 42 percent or better from 3-point range. That’s because their focus is on shot quality on offense, which allows the Cavaliers to get great looks. 

But just because the Cavaliers are playing well on both sides of the court doesn’t mean they’ll cover the Virginia vs. NC State spread on Thursday in the ACC Tournament 2019 quarterfinals. 

NC State used a strong second-half surge to come back and defeat Clemson on Wednesday in what essentially was thought of as a play-in game for the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack held Clemson to just 16 second-half points and will look clamp down on Virginia’s trio of playmakers. 

The Wolfpack has also shown they can hang tough with the top-seeded Cavaliers already this season. In fact, in their only meeting against Virginia this season, the Wolfpack forced the Cavaliers into overtime, eventually losing 66-65. Four NC State players hit double-digit points in that game, and if they’re able to attack Virginia’s defense again on Thursday, the Wolfpack will have a great shot at covering the spread.

We can tell you Rusk is leaning to the under, but his stronger pick is against the spread. He’s identified a critical x-factor he believes leads to one side hitting hard. You can see what it is only over at SportsLine. 

Who wins NC State vs. Virginia? And what critical x-factor makes one side hit hard? Visit SportsLine now to find out which side of the NC State vs. Virginia spread you should be all over, all from the expert on a strong 17-11 run on his college basketball picks.