Duke vs. Tennessee Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
Duke didn’t have to sweat in their win over No. 12 Oral Roberts, controlling the pace from start to finish and winning by 23. Tennessee’s victory wasn’t as easy, surviving a late push from Louisiana but won 58-55. Saturday’s the first ever tournament meeting between Duke and Tennessee.
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer got his first tournament win, and his Blue Devils have now won 10 straight games. The Blue Devils are also now 19-1 this year when having a full roster playing.
Tip-off at the Amway Center Saturday starts at 2:40 p.m. EDT and it’s the Blue Devils the favourite at -2 the spread and the total at 128 on the NCAAB odds.
Duke vs. Tennessee Point Spread and Betting
By covering in their win Thursday the Blue Devils are now 5-0 ATS in their last five games and 8-0 ATS in their last eight appearances in March. Tennessee failed to cover Thursday and are now 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games and 1-4 in their last five games in March.
The under is now 7-2 in nine neutral site games for Duke this season. The Volunteers haven’t been dominant lately but in all of their last six wins they’ve yet to allow more than 59 points. So if Duke can get into the 60s, they got a legit shot and the over does too.
Duke Blue Devils (5)
The vet in the lineup led the Blue Devils on the attack Thursday as guard Jeremy Roach led all scorers with 23 points, a total that ties his career high. Duke played an extremely clean game in their 74-51 Round of 64 win, shooting 48.4 per cent from the field and holding Oral Roberts’ high-scoring offence to just 30.2 per cent from the field.
After Roach, Duke got a huge boost on offence from freshman Dariq Whitehead who scored 13 points. Whitehead saw 23 minutes of action and was one of two Blue Devils bench players to see double-digit minutes. Centre Dereck Lively II was a complete menace underneath Duke’s rim, blocking six shots and picking up nine defensive rebounds.
Tennessee Volunteers (4)
Stout defensive play is Tennessee’s MO and it did the trick for them Thursday. The Vols held Louisiana to 55 points and 40 per cent shooting from the field while also generating 14 turnovers. On the other end Rick Barnes’ club was quite sloppy themselves though, turning the ball over 18 times and going four for 16 from three-point territory. Tennessee also knocked down just 57 per cent of their free throw attempts which likely wont cut it on Saturday.
Nine players saw the court in the win and Tyreke Key’s 12 points off the bench led the entire team. Guard Jahmai Mashack was the only other player to reach double digit points (11).
