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Playing against a ranked foe seems to get the juices of the Duke Blue Devils flowing and they’ll get another chance to topple a top squad when they visit the No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels. The Dookies have won four straight over top-20 competition, including a home win over the then No. 8 Tar Heels in Durham. It’ll be a much different challenge trying to knock off their Tobacco Road rival on the road, but at least Coach K will have his club ready.
This war on the floor will go down Saturday, March 4, 2017, at 8:15 p.m. ET at the Dean Smith Center. The game will be televised live on ESPN. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Saturday schedule.
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While the Dookies have won four straight over teams that were ranked in the top-20 at the time the game was played, they haven’t been so lucky against their unranked opponents. Duke dropped a pair last week on the road to Syracuse and Miami, both on the fringe of being ranked at the time. And a big reason why the Blue Devils won’t win the ACC regular season title has been their play on the road. Those two losses last week guaranteed the Dookies will have a losing road record in league play. Duke heads to Chapel Hill with a 3-5 SU and 2-6 ATS record.
Despite losing at Virginia on Monday night, UNC’s first since falling to Duke on Feb. 9, the Tar Heels can clinch the ACC regular season title with a win. And what better way to do it than to knock off your top rival. UNC was stymied by the harassing defense of the Cavaliers, scoring a season-low in the 53-43 loss, which is about half their season average. Prior to that game UNC had gone 4-0 SU and ATS.
Last Meeting
The Tar Heels might have been looking past Duke when the teams met at Cameron Indoor last month. Duke had won three straight entering the game, but the Blue Devils were in a bit of slide with losses in three of four and four of seven before that. You can bet UNC won’t be taking them lightly this time around. The Tar Heels are one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the country, but they snared fewer than half their season average and couldn’t turn what they did get into second chance points.
Duke was missing some key pieces when it was reeling, but they were all back in action leading the Blue Devils to an 86-78 win. And it was a typical battle between the fierce rivals with numerous ties and lead changes and neither leading by more than the final margin. While Duke’s roster was mostly intact, the Tar Heels played without No. 4 scorer and second leading rebounder Isaiah Hicks, which hurt UNC on the offensive glass.
Injury Report
Duke’s Grayson Allen returned to the lineup on Tuesday, but it was obvious the Blue Devils second-leading scorer was still hobbled by the ankle injury that forced him out of last Saturday’s loss to Miami. And Coach K knows that with his team’s depth issue, having Allen healthier for the NCAA Tournament will be much more beneficial than this game.
Allen was hurt a few weeks ago and attempted to play through the pain over the next three games. The Blue Devils won two of three in that span, but Allen averaged just eight points an outing. He sat out the loss to Miami and returned with season-lows of two points in 16 minutes against FSU. When healthy, Allen is a force. He scored 25 points making 7 of 12 threes against UNC the game before he was injured.
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North Carolina hasn’t lost consecutive games this season and you know the Heels are eager to get back on the court after a dismal offensive performance in a loss to Virginia. And this one is extra special for UNC with a chance to clinch the ACC title on its home floor against the program’s biggest rival.
There’s no reason to expect anything different than what we saw when these two met last month, except for possibly the outcome. This will be a tight contest throughout and the Tar Heels will work to pound the glass, something they didn’t do very well in the first meeting. With Allen still bothered by the ankle injury, UNC’s backcourt will work to take advantage on both ends of the floor. I don’t foresee the Heels laying an egg in this one with so much at stake, and the home court will definitely be an advantage as they drop the Dookies in a close one.
College Basketball Odds: North Carolina 77, Duke 74
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