Notre Dame at Duke NCAA Basketball Lines & Expert Pick

Notre Dame at Duke NCAA Basketball Lines & Expert Pick

Written by on January 29, 2018

Expect some great chants from the Cameron Crazies on Monday night with Notre Dame in town, something like: “You couldn’t get into Duke!” The unranked Irish could use an upset of the ranked Blue Devils to boost their College Basketball Tournament resume, but Duke is a big NCAA basketball lines favorite.

Notre Dame at Duke NCAA Basketball Lines & Expert Pick

When: Monday, 7 PM ET Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham TV: ESPN Stream: WatchESPN Radio: Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network (Notre Dame) / Blue Devil IMG Sports (Duke) Opening NCAA Basketball Lines: Duke -14.5

Last Season

This is the only scheduled matchup this season between these schools. Last year Duke was 2-0 vs. the Irish. It was an 84-74 victory in South Bend. Jayson Tatum (now with the Celtics) had 19 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, and Grayson Allen scored 21 points to lead the Blue Devils. Luke Kennard and Matt Jones each added 16 points. V.J. Beachem scored 20 points and Bonzie Colson had 17 points and nine rebounds for Notre Dame. The Blue Devils picked up just their second win against the Irish in the seven games they’ve played since Notre Dame joined the ACC. In the ACC Tournament title game, Duke won 75-69 as the Blue Devils became the first team to win the event with four victories in four days by rallying past the Irish. Tatum had 19 points and eight rebounds as Duke won its first ACC tournament championship since 2011 and its 20th overall, most in league history, and the 14th under coach Mike Krzyzewski. Colson had 29 points and nine rebounds in the loss. The Blue Devils lead the all-time series, which began with a 1965 matchup in Chicago Stadium, 22-7 and won 17 of the first 19 meetings between the two schools.

Why Bet on Notre Dame?

The Irish (13-8, 3-5 ACC) are ravaged by injury and probably won’t make the NCAA Tournament barring an unlikely run to the ACC tournament title. Point guard Matt Farrell sat out Saturday night’s 80-75 home loss to Virginia Tech. He’ll miss the Duke game as well. Colson, the preseason ACC Player of the Year, was ruled out two months in early January due to surgery on a broken foot. Colson was averaging 21.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.0 steals. If Colson misses exactly eight weeks, he would miss 16 regular season games before returning on March 3 for ND’s regular season finale against Virginia. With Colson, Farrell and D.J. Harvey out with injuries, the Irish have used seven different starting lineups through their first eight ACC contests. When healthy, those players account for 42.9 points scored per game. In Saturday’s loss to the Hokies, Notre Dame trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half before making a valiant comeback to cut the lead to two points with less than two minutes to play. However, they could never draw even. T.J. Gibbs, a sophomore, had a career-high 27 points and fellow sophomore John Mooney turned in a personal-best 15 points. Two other Notre Dame players finished in double figures in the scoring column, as Rex Pflueger had 15 points and Martinas Geben added 10. Playing all 40 minutes, Gibbs (40.12) joins Syracuse’s Tyus Battle (40.25) as the only ACC players to average over 40 minutes played in league competition. For the fifth time in eight conference games, the Irish outrebounded their opponent by double digits (39-28). The Irish knocked down 12 shots from beyond the arc, marking the eighth time this season the team has connected on at least 10 three-pointers.

Why Bet on Duke?

The Blue Devils (18-3, 6-3 ACC) look to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time this season as they were upset 65-63 by No. 2 Virginia in Durham on Saturday. It was UVA’s first win at Duke since 1995. The nation’s stingiest defense held the top offense in Division I to more than 28 points below its average of 91.7 points. Marvin Bagley III had 30 points and 14 rebounds, while Wendell Carter Jr. had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Blue Devils. It was Bagley’s ACC-leading sixth 30-point effort this season, which extends the ACC freshman record. It was also the 11th time this season that multiple freshmen have recorded a double-double in the same game. That happened just three times at Duke before this season. Is Duke a safe bet in the NCAA Basketball lines? Duke had 16 turnovers to Virginia’s five, with the Cavaliers turning those miscues into 14 points while the Blue Devils managed just four points off the ones they forced. Allen was held to just 5 points. The senior guard has shot 34.8 percent overall and 39.1 percent from downtown in his last 10 games, which have included all three losses for Duke this season. Duke’s streak of scoring 80+ points in a game was stopped at 16. It is the third-longest streak in team history. Of Duke’s 30 double-doubles this season, 29 have come from freshmen which extends a school record. Duke’s 30 double-doubles are the most by a Coach K team, surpassing the 29 by the 1989-90 squad.

Latest NCAA Basketball Lines Trends

  • Notre Dame is 1-4 ATS in the last 5 games
  • Notre Dame is 0-5 SU in the last 5 games
  • The total went UNDER in 4 of Notre Dame’s last 6 games
  • Duke is 4-2 ATS in the last 6 games
  • Duke is 18-3 SU in the last 21 games
  • The total went UNDER in 5 of Duke’s last 6 games

Expert NCAA Basketball Betting Prediction

Duke should win by at least 20 with the Irish so short-handed.