NCAA Basketball Matchup: Duke Blue Devils vs Ohio St. Buckeyes
The Big Ten/ACC Challenge gets underway tonight. The ACC had dominated this event for years, but the Big Ten has won the matchup in each of the last two seasons.
9:30 PM EST
College Basketball Gambling Odds from Bookmaker
NCAA Basketball Betting Favorite: Ohio State -5.5
Over/Under: 144
The single biggest game of the challenge will be tonight in Columbus, Ohio. The fourth ranked Duke Blue Devils will take on the second ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
This will be the first time these two school have met since 2002. Both of these teams have high title hopes, and this game should tell us a lot about both of these young teams.
Duke is averaging 79.4 points per game this season. This Blue Devils team looks quite a bit different than it has the last few years. The loss of Kyle Singler, Kyrie Irving, and Nolan Smith really hurt this team, but Duke recruited extremely well as they always seem to do. Seth Curry leads the Blue Devils with 15.1 points per game so far this season.
Curry is shooting an amazing 57% from beyond the arc. Austin Rivers was the top ranked recruit in the nation, and he is the new point guard for this team. Rivers has just 15 assists and 16 turnovers so far this year, but he has shown flashes of brilliance. The Plumlee brothers will have a big task of trying to slow down Jared Sullinger in this one. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Ohio State was the title favorite heading into March Madness last year, but the team suffered a tough loss to Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen. Jared Sullinger and William Buford both decided to come back to school to try to finish on a higher note.
Sullinger leads the team with 18.8 points per game this year, and he is shooting 63% from the floor.
Buford is averaging 17.7 points per game, and he is shooting 50% from three-point range. The Buckeyes have no shortage of talent and athleticism, but this is an inexperienced team. Largely because of Sullinger, the Buckeyes are great on the boards. The team has been good defensively so far this year, but this game will be a much bigger test for the defense.
Both offenses should be able to score in this one, and I think the best value here is the over.
Free Prediction: Ohio State 78 Duke 72
