The smoking hot No. 2 Duke Blue Devils continued upon their torrid path to a championship on Friday night by toying with the overmatched No. 15 Troy Trojans. Winners of six straight both straight up and against the spread, Coach K’s squad will be out to log their seventh in a row against the No. 7 South Carolina Gamecocks. Frank Martin’s squad has come up with some big wins this season, and could be in line for another one in this quasi-road tilt with the Dookies.
This war on the floor will go down Sunday, March 19, 2017, at 8:40 p.m. ET at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The game will be televised live on TNT. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every NCAA Tournament game on Sunday’s college basketball schedule.
Odds at BookMaker.eu
Friday’s first-round tilt against Marquette saw the Cocks log their first pointspread cover since throttling Tennessee 82-55 back on February 25. The triumph barely moved the needle however with Sindarius Thornwell and company just 2-9 against the spread over their last 11 games. These bankroll killers have split their four neutral court tilts, but did manage a 2-1-1 mark against the linemakers in those contests.
Duke had been a money burner throughout the regular season, but since Luke Kennard and his mates started lacing up their shoes for tourney action, they’ve been nothing but money in the bank. It all started with a comeback win and cover over Clemson in the ACC tournament, and carried over to Friday when they beat Troy by 22. The loss to Kansas at the beginning of the year stands as the team’s only neutral court defeat through 10 tries. They’re 7-3 against the spread in those matchups.
Road To Final Four
Fueled by a pro Gamecocks crowd, South Carolina blew past Marquette in the second half of their first-round matchup to secure the blowout 93-79 win and cover. The game closed at a pick ‘em with a game total of 143.5. Thornwell had a night to remember with a game-high 29 points on 10 of 19 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds. The Cocks defense limited Marquette to 46.3 percent shooting, but will need to drastically reduce that output if it’s to have any shot of springing this upset.
The Dookies packed their offense with them to Greenville where they shot better than 46 percent from the field and beyond the arc to secure the carefree 22 point win and cover as 19.5 point favorites. The Trojans shrunk the lead to 12 once, but a barrage of threes immediately pushed the game back out of reach. Grayson Allen led all scorers with 21 points and connected on 5 of his 9 shots from downtown. Only six teams are better at defending the arc than South Carolina, so it won’t be like shooting fish in a barrel this time around.
Player to Watch
Jayson Tatum – The frosh has been playing like a man possessed ever since putting forth a dud at Miami in a game the Blue Devils lost 55-50. Since then, he’s averaged 19.1 points and 8.0 rebounds the last seven times he took to the hardwood. He was simply outstanding on the glass versus the Trojans ripping down a team-high 12 rebounds to allow for Duke to win the battle of the boards 33-32. The Blue Devils hold the rebounding advantage in this matchup, and it mostly has everything to do with Tatum who’s led the way on the glass in each of the last three games.
Free College Basketball ATS Pick
When the lights go on in the Big Dance, anything can happen. That’s exactly what occurred Friday night when the Gamecocks dropped their second highest point tally of the season on Marquette’s head. Unfortunately, that’s nothing to really get excited about with the Golden Eagles possessing the nation’s No. 170 ranked defensive efficiency which equated to one of the worst marks of any team in the tournament. Duke checks in at No. 35. Look for the Cocks offense to come crashing back down to earth in this one.
That said, SC plays a fantastic brand of in your face defensive basketball with it challenging every shot and limiting the opposition to less than 65.0 points per game. Most importantly, it can lock down the perimeter which is something that bodes well for them against a Duke outfit that counts on its 3-point shooting to average better than 30.0 percent of its scoring output. South Carolina represents the best defense Duke will have run up against since coming back to beat Louisville 81-77 in the ACC tournament. Look for the Gamecocks to ugly it up just enough to stick close, but ultimately come up short.
College Basketball Odds: Duke 75, South Carolina 69
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