The Duke Blue Devils and the Arkansas Razorbacks meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Bud Walton Arena. Duke is 5-1 on the year so far following an 18-point win over Southern Indiana in their last game. As for Arkansas, they dropped to 4-3 after a loss to North Carolina back on Friday. Here’s our Duke vs Arkansas prediction.

Duke Blue Devils 

The Blue Devils have just the one blemish on their schedule this year so far: a 78-73 loss to a great Arizona team. Otherwise Duke cruised through their first five outings with wins over Dartmouth, Michigan State, Bucknell and La Salle. The Blue Devils managed a 42-27 rebounding advantage and 53.7 percent shooting in the win over the Explorers. 

Duke was able to keep it going with another victory in their last matchup versus Southern Indiana on Friday. The Blue Devils were surprisingly trailing 35-31 at the break, then hit a 49-27 second-half advantage in an 80-62 win. Kyle Filipowski topped the team on a double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds. 

Arkansas Razorbacks 

Over on the Razorbacks’ side, they notched a 4-1 run over their first five games with a lone loss 78-72 to UNC Greensboro. Arkansas followed up the defeat with a win over Stanford, then lost to Memphis 84-79 in a tough result. The Razorbacks kept pace in the second half versus the Tigers and had a 33-24 rebounding edge but the 18 turnovers didn’t help. 

Arkansas lost another one on Friday versus North Carolina. The Razorbacks held a 38-35 halftime lead, then took a 52-34 deficit the rest of the way in an 87-72 loss. Tramon Mark led the team on his 34 points and five boards, while Layden Blocker added 11 points with two rebounds. 

ANDREW’S FREE ARKANSAS VS DUKE PREDICTION

I’ll probably just stay with Duke. The Blue Devils recovered well after a first-half deficit versus a struggling Southern Indiana team in their last matchup, eventually shooting 48.3 percent from the field with a 38-33 rebounding edge. The slow start is troubling, but the good news is that Duke has posted 73 or more points in every game so far. 

As for Arkansas, they faded in the second half of their latest game versus North Carolina and shot just 29.4 percent (5-of-17) from 3-point range. The Razorbacks got out-hustled on the boards 42-30 (18-9 offensive) in the defeat. Arkansas is scoring very well themselves this year—72 or more points in every game—so this one should be a high total also.