Buffalo lost, but covered the spread against some elite teams a year ago, but with a diminished roster and a couple bad losses already this year, the Bulls will have their biggest test as they see if they can hold their own against the Blue Devils.
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HOW THE BUFFALO BULLS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
With the talent level and reputation between Duke and Buffalo so wide, the Blue Devils will be heavy favorites, giving some hope to those looking to fade the Blue Devils.
The Bulls were the kings of the MAC last year, but they have just six returning players. Lamonte Bearden is back at point, Jarryn Skeete is still shooting from the outside, but little else remains the same. That’s the bad news, the good news is a number of Buffalo’s new faces have experience as they added a few transfers including Willie Connor and Blake Hamilton.
Hamilton, in particular, has played very well. He’s second on the team in points, assists and rebounds with 12.7 PPG, 13 assists and 6.5 RPG.
The Bulls have also seem to have gotten rolling a bit after a rough start with three straight wins and a 2-1 ATS mark in those games.
Buffalo has the fire power averaging 82.5 PPG, but the team’s shooting just 41.2 percent from the floor and their scoring will go down drastically as they face better rebounding and ball control teams like Duke. Still, the ability to put points on the board is there and that could allow the Bulls to stay close enough to cover the spread, depending on where it actually falls.
It’s also important to note that Duke has struggled ATS this year, going just 2-4.
HOW THE DUKE BLUE DEVILS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
In their only two true road games this season, the Bulls got dominated by Old Dominion and St. Joseph’s falling 77-58 and 89-67 respectively.
Of course, Buffalo dropped both of those games ATS as well. They’ve also lost their most recent games ATS after just barely squeezing by with a 98-96 overtime win over Canisius.
Duke is a better team than everyone Buffalo has played thus far and will be huge favorites over the Bulls.
The Blue Devils lost several key players to the NBA, but they’ve still managed to go 6-1 in their first seven games with their only loss coming against the always dominant Kentucky Wildcats.
Of course, Duke has had some trouble ATS, but covered their last two games, both large spreads, against Utah State and Yale. In addition, they’ve scored at least 80 points in three straight games heading into a showdown against a defense that’s already had defensive issues against teams like Old Dominion.
Individually, Duke still has plenty of talent. Guard Grayson Allen in particular is leading the way with 22.6 PPG and a team leading 23 assists. He’s scored 22 or more in five of the Blue Devils’ seven games. In addition to Allen, the Blue Devils have a rotation that goes seven deep with top end talent including center Marshall Plumlee whose 16 blocks and 7.4 RPG will go a long ways along with Amile Jefferson’s 10.6 RPG in shutting down the Bulls’ offense.
ANAYLSIS AN PREDICTION
Duke has already destroyed a couple of teams where it was the heavy favorite going in and there’s no reason to expect anything other than three in a row for the Blue Devils.
Buffalo comes out of a much weaker MAC conference and while it won the conference last year, the Bulls have taken a big step backwards after losing a great deal of talent. They’re far less equipped to hang with the big boys than they were a year ago. Of course a year ago, they still lost big to Kentucky and Wisconsin, though they were at least able to cover the spread in those games.
This time, we have Duke trending in the right direction and a poor ATS history for Buffalo who lost both games they were underdogs by at least eight this year.
Duke 88, Buffalo 59
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Don’t miss out on getting paid because you couldn’t bet, click here and deposit at BookMaker now! The contest between the Buffalo Bulls and Duke Blue Devils will take place Saturday, December 5, 2015 with tipoff slated for 5:15 p.m. ET at Cameron Indoor Stadium. You can watch the game live on ESPN2.
