The Duke Blue Devils and the Syracuse Orange meet in college basketball action from the Carrier Dome on Saturday afternoon.
The Duke Blue Devils will look to add to their five-game win streak after a 65-61 road win over Virginia last time out. Paolo Banchero leads Duke in scoring and rebounding with 16.6 PPG and 8.3 RPG while Wendell Moore Jr. has 13.5 PPG with 5.5 RPG and 4.5 APG to lead the Blue Devils in assists. Trevor Keels has 12 PPG with 3.1 APG and Mark Williams has 10.5 PPG and 6.9 RPG this season. AJ Griffin also has 10 PPG and 3.7 RPG as well to make up the group of double-digit scorers for Duke so far this season. As a team, Duke is averaging 79.5 PPG on 48.4% shooting from the field, 36.8% from three and 72.8% from the foul line while allowing 65.1 PPG on 40.7% shooting from the field and 30.1% from three this season.
The Syracuse Orange will try to bounce back from a 79-69 loss to Notre Dame on the road in their last game. Buddy Boeheim leads the Orange in scoring with 19 PPG along with 3.3 APG while Joseph Girard III has 13.3 PPG and a team-high 4.3 APG. Jimmy Boeheim’s got 13.9 PPG and 6.2 RPG and Cole Swider has 13.3 PPG with a team-leading 7 RPG of his own. Jesse Edwards has 12 PPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Syracuse so far this season. As a team, Syracuse is averaging 77 PPG on 45.1% shooting from the field, 37.4% from three and 72.1% shooting from the foul line while allowing 74 PPG on 42.1% shooting from the field and 33.3% from three this season.
Duke is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games following a win and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following an ATS loss while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record. Syracuse is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games and 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games following a loss while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 home games.
I get the case to be made either way here and I do lean towards Duke in this one because the Blue Devils have done a good job taking care of lesser opponents on the road. However, my stronger lean is towards the over as both teams can score and this is usually a matchup where both teams get into the mid- to high-70s and I think this one ends up being no different. Give me the over.