The Duke Blue Devils will define their season in ACC play, but in order to get there will have to take care of business on one more game out of conference. Duke will travel to play the Elon Phoenix in a game in which the Blue Devils should have no trouble rolling to victory.
Elon is over .500 on the season but is a small-conference foe which won’t be able to hang in this one. The Phoenix will instead simply hope to cover the spread in a game in which it should give plenty of points against a stronger opponent.
This war on the floor will go down Wednesday, December 21, 2016, at 1 p.m. ET at the Greensboro Coliseum. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.
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Odds at BookMaker.eu
Duke is 10-1 straight up and 6-4 against the spread on the season. The Blue Devils have been the favorites in every game this season and it won’t be changing in this showdown. Duke is 3-2 against the spread away from home this year.
Elon is 7-4 straight up and 5-3 against the spread. The Phoenix has been the underdog three times this season and has managed to cover in every opportunity when getting points.
Player to Watch
Luke Kennard – The Duke sophomore guard is leading the Blue Devils in scoring so far this season, averaging 20 points a game. Kennard also averages 6.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists a game.
Kennard scored a season-high 35 points in Duke’s 94-55 win over Maine on December 3rd. He also put up 29 points in Duke’s win Florida on December 6th and, even on a team with so much talent, Kennard is shining the brightest so far.
He is shooting 52 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from three-point range and will aim to keep that going against Elon.
Key Stat
Two. That’s how many points separate the Blue Devils from an undefeated record this season. The team’s only loss this season was to No. 7 Kansas on November 15th where Duke fell 77-75 to the Jayhawks after Frank Mason III hit a jumper with 1.8 seconds to go.
The Blue Devils have faced two additional ranked opponents this season, defeating both Rhode Island and Florida by ten points each. The Blue Devils have scored 272 points in the last three and are riding an eight-game winning streak coming into this matchup.
The team will be looking to continue its winning ways against Elon, a team which has lost three of its past four contests.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Duke’s season will ultimately be gauged how well it plays in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Blue Devils are always battling for one of the top seeds and they can’t afford to lose games like this in which they are heavily favored.
There’s no question Duke should take care of this one in a blowout. The Blue Devils are outscoring teams by an average of 24 points per game on the season and could very well do that here.
Duke doesn’t play at home in this one, which could contribute to the game being a tad bit closer than if the Blue Devils were suiting up in front of the Cameron Crazies. However, Elon will need to play really well offensively to stick around in this one.
The Phoenix have five different players average in double figures and need a few of them to step up and really shoot the ball well to keep it close. However, Duke is so immensely talented that this one could go sideways quickly.
Take Duke to roll in this contest.
College Basketball Odds: Duke 83, Elon 61
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