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The Duke Blue Devils are one of the favorites to win the ACC Tournament even though they wrapped the regular season as the fifth best team in the conference. In playing to six games under .500 in league play and just two games up overall, it comes as no surprise to see the Clemson Tigers heavy underdogs to pull the same feat, and with that, will be getting a handful of points for this second round matchup.
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The Tigers couldn’t have asked for a better first round matchup to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. NC State was the equivalent of the Walking Dead entering the tourney, and it showed with Jaron Blossomgame and company cruising to the 75-61 win and cover as 5.5 point favorites. The win was the team’s third straight, but the previous two wins came against Boston College and the Wolfpack. However, Brad Brownell’s kids have been playing some real competitive ball of late with their previous three losses coming by an average of just 3.0 points per game to FSU, VTECH and Miami.
It simply wasn’t the season fans, and more importantly sports bettors, had in mind for the Dookies in 2016-17. Coach K was forced to leave for a while to recover from back surgery. Freshman Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles took longer than expected to come into their own. People spoke more about Grayson Allen’s antics than his abilities when on the court. While the eight losses were less than a year ago, the 11-18-1 record against the linemakers certainly saw the team regress. The Dookies enter this tilt having failed to cover each of their last five games.
Key Stat
14.6% - Duke is deadly when it gets a chance to beat its opponent down at the charity stripe. The trio of Luke Kennard, Allen and Tatum all shoot better than 80 percent from the free throw line. However, Clemson is one of the best teams in the country at limiting its opponent’s chances from the stripe. Only four teams have allowed a lower percentage of points scored at the free throw line all season. The Tigers concede an average of just
14.6 percent of their opponent’s points from free throws, and only allowed Duke 15 attempts in their lone regular season meeting at Cameron Indoor. Should Clemson limit the fouls once again, it should be able to stick close to the Blue Devils for a second time.
Last Meeting
If not for Kennard’s 15 point scoring barrage in the second half, the Blue Devils would have likely fallen at home to the Tigers as 11 point favorites. Duke seemingly had the game in control through one half of play up 29-18, but Clemson erupted in the second half with 44 points to put a major scare into the Cameron Crazies. Duke held on to preserve the 64-62 win, but knew full well after the game that they were lucky to escape. Kennard led all scorers with 25 points, but sophomores Elijah Thomas and Shelton Mitchell shined for the Tigers with 15 and 23 points respectively. Clemson won the rebounding battle and actually got to the line five more times.
Free College Basketball ATS Pick
It’s tough to buy in 100 percent to the Tigers effort in Durham earlier this season with the game taking place two days after the Dookies ousted the hated rival North Carolina Tar Heels. Were they hungover? Was the first half more indicative of what we’re to expect today? There’s two sides to every story, but one thing that holds true right now in the present is that Clemson has recently been competing to the bitter end of every game. The last time these teams met in the ACC Tournament, Duke eked out a 63-62 win as 9.5 point favorites. The Tigers have covered four of the last five overall meetings, and I don’t see them going down without a fight in this one either.
College Basketball Odds: Duke 71, Clemson 66
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