Duke (17-2) at Notre Dame (11-9)
When: Monday, January 28th, 2019
Where: Purcell Pavilion,
South Bend, Indiana
Time: 7:00 ET | TV: ESPN
Opening Odds: Duke -13/151
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It’s the top versus the bottom in the ACC as the Duke Blue Devils begin a new week with a trip to South Bend to take on a struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish squad. The Blue Devils sit tied a top the conference standings with Virginia and Louisville after a hard-fought win over a pesky Georgia Tech team on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Irish are tied with Wake Forest at the very bottom of the ACC and will be playing against a top three team in the country for the second time in three days. Notre Dame was schooled at home Saturday 82-55 against No. 3 Virginia and are now 1-6 in conference and are 13-point home dogs Monday versus Duke. The Irish already have four home losses and have failed to cover the spread in seven of their last eight games overall. Georgia Tech gave Duke all they could for about 20 minutes on Saturday until something clicked for the Blue Devils and they outscored the Yellow Jackets 39-24 in the second half for a 66-53 win. Duke came into that game as 23-point favorites and covered the spread just once in their past five games. Duke leads the all-time series 24-7, including wins at home and in the ACC tournament last season.
The 66 points against Georgia Tech was the lowest output of the season for Duke, who is fourth in the nation in points per game at 87.4. RJ Barrett, who leads the ACC in scoring at 23.9, recorded a game-high 24 on 8-of-16 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line while adding 11 rebounds against Georgia Tech. Dunk master Zion Williamson is right behind Barrett in scoring (21.7) and added 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting while pulling down seven rebounds and adding three blocks. Point guard Tre Jones missed the last two games with an injury but played 35 minutes on Saturday and recorded six points, four rebounds and four assists.
Irish coach Mike Brey praised the Cavaliers after Saturday’s game. “I can’t say enough how impressed I am with [the Cavaliers]. They could win the national championship”. At the same time, Brey did not like how his players performed and scheduled an 8 a.m. workout for the team on Sunday. The Irish got behind quick by missing their first nine shots and hit just 36.1 percent for the game including 8-of-29 from 3-point range while being outrebounded 45-33. John Mooney led the way with 15 points and 10 rebounds for his ACC-leading 12th double-double of the season, but the Irish will need better performances from everyone else in order to knock off Duke.
This Notre Dame team doesn’t have much confidence going for them right now and I don’t know how much an early Sunday morning practice is going to help them stop Duke. The Blue Devils haven’t been playing their best, but they still have a ton more talent than the Irish and should win easily.
Pick: Duke -13
- Blue Devils are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 Monday games.
- Blue Devils are 13-6-1 ATS in their last 20 games following a ATS loss.
- Blue Devils are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall.
- Blue Devils are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 vs. Atlantic Coast.
- Blue Devils are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
- Fighting Irish are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games following a ATS loss.
- Fighting Irish are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
- Fighting Irish are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
- Fighting Irish are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games following a straight up loss of more than 20 points.
- Fighting Irish are 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games overall.
- Fighting Irish are 1-7 ATS in their last 8 vs. Atlantic Coast.
- Fighting Irish are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games following a straight up loss.
- Fighting Irish are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 Monday games.
- Fighting Irish are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 home games.
- Over is 5-1 in Blue Devils last 6 vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
- Under is 12-4-2 in Blue Devils last 18 overall.
- Under is 3-1-1 in Blue Devils last 5 road games.
- Under is 3-1-1 in Blue Devils last 5 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
- Under is 3-1-1 in Blue Devils last 5 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
- Over is 6-2 in Blue Devils last 8 Monday games.
- Under is 20-8-2 in Blue Devils last 30 games following a straight up win.
- Under is 7-0 in Fighting Irish last 7 games following a straight up loss of more than 20 points.
- Over is 6-1 in Fighting Irish last 7 Monday games.
- Over is 5-1 in Fighting Irish last 6 vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
- Under is 4-1 in Fighting Irish last 5 overall.
- Under is 4-1 in Fighting Irish last 5 vs. Atlantic Coast.
- Under is 7-3 in Fighting Irish last 10 games following a straight up loss.
- Over is 9-4 in Fighting Irish last 13 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.
- Blue Devils are 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings.
- Favorite is 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings.
- Over is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings.
