The highlight of an usually busy and good college basketball Friday is a matchup of blue blood programs as No. 19 Kansas visits No. 25 North Carolina. While it’s the 14th all-time meeting between schools that have combined 10 national titles, 247 NCAA Tournament wins, 36 Final Fours and 4,811 victories overall, it’s KU’s first-ever visit to Chapel Hill.

Friday marks the first time the teams will meet with neither being ranked in the AP Poll’s top 10 since 1959. Kansas leads 7-6 and has won the past five, with the last meeting coming in the 2022 national title game in New Orleans. KU rallied from a 15-point deficit at the half to win 72-69.

Neither team has come close to cutting down the nets since then, and a national championship next April in Indianapolis would be a little unlikely considering the No. 19 ranking is KU’s lowest in the AP preseason poll since starting 24th in 2008-09, and the No. 25 ranking is the lowest in school history for UNC.

I lean UNC -120 at home, given that the Tar Heels are a more veteran club overall. The Jayhawks are 2-9 ATS in their past 11 as underdogs, and their lone returning player who saw meaningful action last season is sophomore Flory Bidunga, who started six games in 2024-25. Kansas has won seven straight games vs. ACC foes and 16 of its last 17 against the league dating back to 2012.

Same-game parlay: UNC by 1-10 + Under 167.5 (+235)

North Carolina has won 12 of its past 13 as a favorite and the SportsLine Projection Model has UNC winning by 4 with 152 total points being scored. With all the hype surrounding the game, I do think both clubs could be sluggish in the first half – especially the Jayhawks playing their first true road game in one of the toughest buildings in the sport. Both shot worse than 37.5% from deep in their openers, so maybe 3-point shooting is an issue. The only way I see 168 total points scored is the game going to overtime.

The Heels should control the boards, as they rank No. 12 nationally in average player height (6-foot-5), and all the motivation would seem to be on their side having lost five straight in the series and nine of their past 10 overall vs. ranked foes. I’m sure UNC head coach Hubert Davis reminded his players of that this week in practice. You can just about count on your hands the number of times KU has lost by more than 10 points under Self, so that 1-10 margin window at FanDuel should be safe.

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Elite freshmen clash

One of the biggest storylines in this game is the matchup of two of the country’s top freshmen – Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and UNC’s Caleb Wilson.

Peterson was the No. 1 overall recruit in the Class of 2025, marking only the third time that Bill Self landed the top prospect after Andrew Wiggins and Josh Jackson. The 6-foot-5 Peterson had 21 points in just 22 minutes in KU’s season-opening 94-51 blowout of Green Bay.

That point total was the most in a Kansas debut by a freshman since Gradey Dick had 23 against Omaha on Nov. 7, 2022. In his second game, Dick had 12 points. Peterson shot 7 of 11 from the field, including 3 for 7 from 3-point range, before sitting most of the second half. Needless to say, he won’t be playing 22 minutes tonight barring foul trouble or injury and part of that Monday minutes limit was due to cramps, an issue Peterson has been dealing with for some time. He missed one exhibition game because of the issue and was limited in another.

“It’s concerning, because we’re not going to be nearly as effective with him playing 16 minutes a game,” Self said, noting he’d ideally like Peterson playing 32-35 minutes per game. “But it’s something that we don’t anticipate being anything that lasts. But we’re talking it serious, and feel like that we’re in better shape than we were, obviously, a week ago.”

Peterson is the +650 favorite at DraftKings to win the Wooden Award – the last KU winner was guard Frank Mason in 2017 – and the +290 leader to win the Wayman Tisdale Award, which goes to the nation’s top freshman. No Jayhawk has won it since it was first awarded after the 1988-89 season. Cooper Flagg swept both awards last season for Duke and was then picked first in the 2025 NBA Draft. Peterson is the +155 favorite to go first next summer.

Of course North Carolina recruited him as well. He was named the preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year and to the CBS Sports preseason All-America first team. Most likely, the primary defender on Peterson tonight will be UNC senior Seth Trimble.

The 6-foot-10 Wilson is ranked as the No. 8 overall recruit in this class by 247Sports and the No. 3 power forward. Naturally, Kansas recruited him as well and offered a scholarship on Oct. 3, 2023. North Carolina also opened the season Monday with a blowout home win, 94-54 over Central Arkansas.

Wilson was awesome with 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting (seven dunks and a 3-pointer) with four rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes. The points were the fourth-most by a Tar Heel freshman in his debut since first-year players became eligible in 1972-73. The last player to score at least 20 in his UNC debut was Cole Anthony with 34 points in 2019 vs. Notre Dame.

“Whether it’s an offensive rebound, post out of bounds, underneath, in transition, he’s looking to take the rim down, and he’s always been that way,” Coach Davis said of Wilson. “It’s one of the things that we always emphasize, is putting pressure on the rim, living in the paint, living in the free throw line and dominating points in the paint. And he’s got the length and athleticism to be able to get there.”

Wilson, who is +12000 for the Wooden Award and +1500 for the Tisdale Award, became the 40th Tar Heel to start his first collegiate game since freshmen became eligible prior to the 1972-73 season and the first since RJ Davis and Caleb Love in 2020-21.