The Virginia Cavaliers and the Duke Blue Devils meet Monday in college basketball action from Cameron Indoor Stadium. Virginia is 14-9 on the year so far and coming off a win over Miami. As for Duke, they’re 19-3 this season. The Blue Devils beat North Carolina in their last outing. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Virginia started off a fairly solid 5-2 this season, but they’ve only been able to win consecutive games twice since then. The Cavaliers are 3-1 over their last four games. They’ve taken out Louisville, Boston College and Miami in that time.
In the Miami game back on Saturday, the Cavaliers managed a 35-26 lead by halftime. Virginia would finish with 36 second-half points in a 71-58 win. Armaan Franklin was the leading scorer on the team with 22 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Over on the Duke side, they’ve stayed very consistent this year and have yet to lose back-to-back games. The Devils’ only losses so far have been to Ohio State, Miami and Florida State. They’ve won their last five over Syracuse, Clemson, Louisville, Notre Dame and North Carolina.
Matched up against the Tar Heels on Saturday, the Devils posted a 39-28 edge in the first half and a 48-39 run from there in an 87-67 win. AJ Griffin was tops on 27 points and four rebounds. Paolo Banchero doubled up on 13 points and 10 boards.
The Devils are 3-1-1 ATS in their last five Monday games and 4-1 ATS in their last five overall. The under is 4-1 in Duke’s last five overall.
Meanwhile, the Cavs are 12-4 ATS in their last 16 Monday games and 2-8 ATS in their last 10 after a straight-up win. The over is 5-1 in Virginia’s last six overall.
PICK: I’m going to stick with Duke here. The Blue Devils have been on a nice run over this 6-2 stretch; the only two losses were by a combined three points (one in OT). Duke has scored 71 or more in seven of their last eight outings and I like another good total here.
As for Virginia, they’re coming off a couple of solid wins and should be able to set the pace here for a while. Ultimately I think it’s Duke’s cover to take, though. Should be a fun matchup.