The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are not having a good season, but they can’t do anything but get in a court and face the Duke Blue Devils in Durham on Monday. Playing basketball on a Monday night instead of reviewing for a test is better, right? Read on for a preview of this ACC duel. Register to bet and wager with your pick.
Betting Preview for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs Duke Blue Devils NCAA Basketball Game on January 29, 2018
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium
When: Monday, January 29, 2018, 7:00 PM EST
Line: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (n/a) vs Duke Blue Devils (n/a) –view all NCAA Basketball lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
Betting on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-7)
Notre Dame has been bitten by the injury bug with some of their key players going down with different health issues of late. Bonzie Colson (21.4 points per game), the team’s top scorer this season is out for a number of games with a foot injury. Matt Farrell, who is second to Colson in scoring with 15.7 is also out for Monday’s game against Duke with an ankle ailment. Apart from those two, Notre Dame will also be without freshman D.J. Harvey (ankle), who started in five games this season and is averaging 5.8 points and 2.9 rebounds. Notre Dame just does not have enough offensive weapons to engage Duke in a shootout. In other words, the Fighting Irish will have to step up big time on defense. Perhaps they will try to slow the game down to prevent Duke from running away with a big lead at any point of the game, but that also means Notre Dame need to control the rebounding battle. Notre Dame is eighth in the conference with 37.7 rebounds per game, but has been better over the last three games in which they averaged 43.7 boards.
Notre Dame is 3-2 ATS in the last five games against Duke.
Betting on the Duke Blue Devils (18-2)
Duke’s offense is always going to be handful for opponents. The Blue Devils are tops in the nation with 91.7 points per game. They are scoring like an NBA team and shooting like one, too. Duke is making 51.0 percent of their shots from the field. It is sinking 8.5 three-pointers per game on 38.1 percent shooting clip. Freshman Marvin Bagley III is tearing the competition apart, as he is regularly averaging a double-double. He is averaging 21.6 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, but he’s also getting a ton of help from a ton of other players. Bagley aside, Duke has four players that put up at least 11.5 points per game. Grayson Allen and Gary Trent are both capable of leading a team of their own. They are outstanding three-point threats with 104 three-pointers between them this season prior to a game against Virginia. Notre Dame will put up an effort defensively, but the more it tries to body up with Duke, the likelier the Fighting Irish will see some of their remaining good players get into foul trouble Without Colson and Farrell, the Fighting Irish simply can’t afford that to happen.
Duke has won its last two games against the Fighting Irish.
Writer’s Prediction:
Duke blows Notre Dame out of the water with an 87-70 win.
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