Though the Duke Blue Devils don’t look to be cut from the same cloth as prior Coach K teams, the KFC YUM! Center will undoubtedly still be rocking when the Louisville Cardinals welcome them in for a Saturday afternoon tip. Much will be on the line for both squads with each looking to put an end to respective two-game losing streaks that saw both squads fall as short favorites. The Dookies fell earlier in the week at PITT as 4.5-point road chalk, while the Ville got embarrassed by the Florida State Seminoles in a game that saw them close as 4-point favorites at online sportsbooks. The Cardinals put an end to a three-game losing streak in the recent rivalry last season by going into Cameron Indoor and handing the Blue Devils a 79-73 defeat as 8-point underdogs. Chris Mack has covered both of his run-ins with Coach K since taking over the reins in Louisville back in 2018.
Take this ACC matchup in live on ESPN at 3 p.m. ET from the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday, January 23, 2020. 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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Odds Analysis
It’s been a rough go for the Dookies and their betting backers with the team managing a lone pointspread cover in their nine played games. While regression to the mean is unavoidable, it doesn’t look to be occurring anytime soon as bad the Blue Devils have looked at both ends of the court. Since defeating Notre Dame 75-65 as 2-point South Bend favorites, Duke has failed to cover four straight and hasn’t covered either of its last two trips to Louisville. After getting its teeth kicked in by the Wisconsin Badgers back on December 19, the Cards rattled off five straight wins and defeated both Kentucky and Virginia Tech at home. Since then, they’ve dropped a pair to Florida based schools and looked terrible in doing so. Monday’s 78-65 final versus the Seminoles makes it seem like the game was at the very least competitive; it wasn’t! It amounted to being their first home loss to date and moved them to 2-5-1 ATS as hosts.
Duke Blue Devils
Though big man Jalen Johnson came out of nowhere with a season-high 24 points and 19 rebounds, the Blue Devils were truly never in Tuesday night’s game against the PITT Panthers. The offense once again had major issues scoring the basketball in accruing 73 total points on 39 percent shooting from the field. While the unit did go on to knock eight 3-pointers down, it was forced to loft 28 of them in an attempt to get back into the game. The team also remained embarrassing from the charity stripe in converting only 11 of 19 attempts. Don’t count on the Blue Devils covering many games at the free throw line moving forward.
Louisville Cardinals
Whatever issue is affecting the Cardinals right now, Mack better figure it out quickly. The team was in a major groove before dropping two straight, and the effort against the Noles coming off a loss against the Canes was simply unacceptable. FSU held a 40-16 first half lead by way of going on 9-0, 8-0 and 7-0 runs. The Ville clawed to within 57-49 with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game, but another Florida State run allowed for the visitors to run and hide. Jae’lyn Withers had a solid game with 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting and a team-high nine rebounds, but the team’s laughable 3-point shooting prevented it from coming all the way back. The Ville ranks No. 230 from deep and averages just 5.4 made 3-pointers per game (No. 322). If it gets behind by another substantial margin against Duke, it won’t be their 3-point shooting that gets them back in the game.
Duke vs. Louisville Prediction
Though Duke and Louisville rank out within the top-40 in offensive efficiency per KenPom.com, points could be tougher to come by in this bout with both Krzyzewski and Mack likely to be harping about their kids’ poor defensive play in practice sessions. Duke just allowed Pittsburgh to exceed its seasonal scoring average, while Louisville just allowed FSU to shoot 50 percent from the field and drain nine of 21 attempted shots from beyond the arc. Add to the mix the Cards desire to play games at a snail’s pace evidenced by their No. 297 tempo rating, I can’t help but think the team to hit the 70-point plateau first comes out the winner. With that, look for the scoreboard operators to have an easy day of it as these teams play to another low scorer to move the under to 4-1 the last five times they hooked up at the KFC Yum! Center.
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