The Duke Blue Devils are in such a spiral that coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is still rehabbing from back surgery, has reportedly told the team it is temporarily banned from the locker room and from wearing team gear. Duke hopes to win back the trust of its coach early next week when they face off against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Duke has lost three of its past four games and sits in the middle of the pack in the ACC, unfamiliar territory for one of the best programs in the country. The Blue Devils will aim to turn it up, but it won’t be easy against a Notre Dame team which has played really well in conference and is playing at home.
This war on the floor will go down Monday, January 30, 2017, at 7 p.m. ET at the Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center in Notre Dame, Indiana. The game will be televised live on ESPN.
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Odds at BookMaker.eu
Duke is 15-5 straight up and 8-11 against the spread. The Blue Devils have played in three road games but have failed to cover in any of them. Duke may be the underdog in this one because of its recent slide, and it has failed to cover in either of its games as the underdog.
Notre Dame is 17-4 straight up and 10-4-1 against the spread. The Fighting Irish have played in seven home games this season and have covered in five of them. Notre Dame is 7-2-1 against spread as the favorite on the year.
Key Stat
1-4. That’s Notre Dame’s record this season against fellow ranked opponents. The team’s only win against a nationally-ranked team came on January 4th when the Fighting Irish defeated No. 9 Louisville 77-70.
The team has losses to No. 1 Villanova, No. 15 Purdue, No. 10 Florida State and, most recently, No. 12 Virginia. All of Notre Dame’s losses have come at the hands at teams that rank among the Top 25 teams in the nation.
Notre Dame will try and buck the trend this week against No. 17 Duke. The team also has three more big games remaining on the schedule, taking on No. 9 North Carolina next before games against No. 6 Florida State and No. 13 Louisville later this season.
Player to Watch
Luke Kennard – Duke’s sophomore guard is the team’s leading scorer right now, averaging 19.8 points a game in addition to 5.5 rebounds. Despite Duke’s recent struggles, the young star has been playing well.
Kennard had 20 points and five rebounds in the loss to NC State on January 23rd and put up 23 points in the loss to No. 9 FSU on January 10th. He scored a season-high against Maine on December 3rd and also scored 34 points against Virginia Tech on December 31st.
He teams up with Jayson Tatum and Grayson Allen to lead an offense that is averaging 82.8 points per game. Tatum and Allen combine for another 31.6 points per game.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Duke has struggled lately but still has a pretty good team. We will see how the Blue Devils respond to their coach’s derision. Both teams are comfortably going to make it into the NCAA men’s basketball tournament but want to get as high of a seed as possible.
Notre Dame has looked good this year but its struggles against elite competition can’t be overlooked. While Duke isn’t playing like one of the best teams in the country right now, it has the capability to get there.
The betting public may be down on Duke right now, so take advantage and choose the Blue Devils to pull the road upset.
College Basketball Odds: Duke 79, Notre Dame 77
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