Duke and Miami meet for the third time this season after the home team won the first two meetings.
The Blue Devils are playing their best basketball of the season, winning seven straight games, including a demolition of a NCAA Tournament team in Pitt, 96-69 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Now, they face Miami’s dynamic backcourt in Nijel Pack and Isaiah Wong. Can they keep up their fine play?
Here are the odds for the ACC Tournament semifinals:
Duke vs. Miami odds, spread and total
Duke vs. Miami prediction and pick
This game should be a back-and-forth affair as Duke can pound the rock inside on an undersized Miami front court that is allowing teams to shoot 52% on the interior in conference play. However, that weakness has been exposed even further over the last month, allowing teams to shoot nearly 58% on two’s, the seventh highest mark in the country.
However, Miami’s guard play is going to pose a problem for the Blue Devils ball screen defense that struggled to slow down the likes of Pack and Wong and the Hurricanes’ ball movement this season. The Hurricanes scored 81 in a 22 point win over the Blue Devils on February 6th, dishing out 21 assists and shooting 50% on two’s as the team’s secondary actions had guys open down low all game.
Duke’s offense is in form with a fully healthy Jeremy Roach running the show, but their defense will still struggle to slow down the ACC’s best offense.
I’m siding with the over in the tourney semis.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
