Louisville Cardinals (8-19) vs. Duke Blue Devils (21-6)
February 28, 2024 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Duke Blue Devils -19.5; Over/Under: 153
(Get latest betting odds)
The Louisville Cardinals and the Duke Blue Devils meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Cameron Indoor Stadium. Louisville is 8-19 overall so far this year following a loss to Notre Dame last week. As for Duke, they’re coming off a loss to Wake Forest that dropped the Blue Devils to 21-6 on the year. Let’s get into our Louisville vs Duke prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Louisville Cardinals
The Cardinals stumbled to a 6-15 run across their first 21 games following a January losing streak versus NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke, Virginia and Clemson. Louisville would hit a brief 2-1 stretch before three more losses to Boston College, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.
In the Notre Dame game last Wednesday, the Cardinals weren’t able to put up much of a fight. Louisville was down by six at the break, then hit a 41-25 deficit the rest of the way in a 72-50 loss. Tops in scoring was Skyy Clark with 18 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
Duke Blue Devils
Over on the Duke side, they only lost five of their first 21 games versus Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and North Carolina. The Blue Devils would then beat Notre Dame, Boston College, Wake Forest, Florida State and Miami before another loss to Wake Forest.
Matched up against Wake Forest on Saturday, the Blue Devils came out of the break with a 38-36 advantage. Duke was outscored 47-41 in the second half however and fell 83-79 in the end. Kyle Filipowski topped the team on his 17 points with eight boards and five assists in the losing effort.
ANDREW’S FREE LOUISVILLE VS DUKE PREDICTION
I’m going with Duke. The line’s probably too thick to mess with, though. The Blue Devils took a tough road loss in their last game against Wake Forest, giving up a whopping 60.4 percent shooting from the field and 52.9 percent from 3-point range. Duke shot pretty well themselves (53.1 percent) and otherwise didn’t play too badly outside of the highly permissive defense. The good news is that the Blue Devils have scored 71 or more points in 13 straight games and should keep that run going in this matchup.
Back on January 23 when these teams last saw each other, the Blue Devils secured an 83-69 road victory. Both teams shot pretty well in that one (upwards of 46 percent) but Duke’s dominance on the boards 43-28 really helped swing the game. Back at home after three straight road games, Duke should be comfortable here. I think they’ll power out a cover in a solid bounce-back effort.
