College Basketball Betting – Duke Blue Devils at Clemson Tigers

Duke Blue Devils at Clemson Tigers
Saturday, January 23rd – 9:00 PM ET
Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson

The Week That Was: Duke

The Blue Devils opened the week with a twenty-point defeat of visiting Wake Forest, 90-70. Kyle Singler led Duke with his first 20-point game since a December 31 defeat of Penn, and he added 15 rebounds. Miles Plumlee contributed a career-high 19 points to go with his 14 rebounds as the Blue Devils went on a 13-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to put the Demon Deacons away.

That form did not carry over to Wednesday.

The Blue Devils traveled to N.C. State and fell to 0-3 on the road, losing to the Wolfpack, 88-74. The Wolfpack controlled the paint as junior forward Tracy Smith scored 23 points.

While the Blue Devils’ "Big Three" of Singler (22 points), Jon Scheyer (21 points), and Nolan Smith (18 points) contributed scoring, their inability to contain the N.C. State guards led to their downfall. Wolfpack guards repeatedly penetrated the Duke defense, creating easy scoring opportunities. While Duke had been holding opponents to less than 30 % on 3-point field goals, NC State shot 41 %, going 5 of 12.

Duke has now lost six of its past eight conference road games going back to last year.

The Week That Was: Clemson

The Tigers come into the Duke game off a tough two-point loss at #18 Georgia Tech, 66-64.

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Clemson began the game at Alexander Memorial Coliseum with a 9-2 run; relinquished the lead midway through the first half; and then recovered in the second half to take a two-point lead with 1:25 to play. The final minute was not nice to Clemson, however, as Tiger forward David Potter missed a layup and the Tigers turned the ball over twice. One turnover enabled Georgia Tech to taking the lead, and the other gave the Yellow Jackets a chance to tie the game with two seconds left.

While leading scorer and rebounder Trevor Booker just missed a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds, poor shooting led to the Tigers’ downfall. Clemson shot only 37 % from the field but was a dismal 10 of 20 from the foul line, though the Yellow Jackets themselves were also 50 % at the line (11-22).

Despite Booker’s play, the Tigers also struggled with Georgia Tech’s inside tandem of Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, who combined for 17 and 16 points respectively, as well as rebound totals of 14 and 10.

Outlook & Pick

Duke and Clemson only matched up once last season, and Duke absorbed its worst loss since a 30-point drubbing to UNLV in the 1990 championship game.

These two squads have played once this year, on Jan. 3. Duke pulled away for a 74-53 win. The key in that game was the Blue Devils’ containment of Booker, who was held to 10 points.

What was the difference between the 2009 and 2010 games? The play of Scheyer. In last year’s loss at Clemson, Scheyer went 1 for 8 from the field. In the Jan. 3 meeting, Scheyer scored 22 points.

If Clemson is going to defeat Duke, the Tigers must contain Scheyer and get Booker more than the 11 shots he took in the first meeting. Duke just needs to play defense on the road. The Tigers should get healthy and avenge that Jan. 3 loss.

Expert Betting Pick: Clemson