Syracuse Orange at Duke Blue Devils Pick
Syracuse Orange (11-5 SU, 8-8 ATS) at Duke Blue Devils (14-1 SU, 10-5 ATS)
When: Monday January 14, 2019 – 7:00 PM ET
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium
TV: ESPN
Betting Odds
Point Spread: SYR +17 / Duke -17
Total Line: 145.5
The Syracuse Orange travel to take on the No .1 ranked Duke Blue Devils in one of the best on the board games for Monday, January 14, 2019. The betting shops list Duke as a blah blah favorite with the O/U line offered up at blah points.
Betting Overview
Syracuse
The Orange were flat in their latest getting upset 73-59 at home by the Yellow Jackets as a -9 betting line favorite. The loss broke off a four-game winning streak straight up and against the spread. The 73 points allowed were the most given up since Oregon hung up 80 back in mid-November sending the game over the 128.5 closing total line for the second time in three games, but only the third occurrence in the last dozen games.
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Duke
The Blue Devils enter this game off a nail-biting 80-78 win over the Seminoles failing to get the money as a -7 favorite. The win was their ninth straight up, and the ATS loss was their first in six contests. The 78 points scored by Florida State was the third highest point total this season against Duke with only Gonzaga scoring 89 in their lone loss and 84 by Kentucky in their season opener.
Recent Series Stats
The home team has won outright in six of the eight meetings since they became conference foes with the Blue Devils winning the last two coming away victorious in five of the matches. Against the spread, in that span, the host is 3-4-1 overall with Duke going 2-2-1 at home. The total has been split 4-4 over the last eight, but games at home for Duke have favored the UNDER going 1-3 versus the O/U line.
Orange at Blue Devils Analysis
I’m going to toss the Orange’s last game in my current form analysis of the Orange. Syracuse was on a run winner of four straight before hosting Georgia Tech and was in the perfect look-ahead spot with Duke on deck. Prior to that game the Orange were playing strong defense, holding opponents to 73/208 from the field (35.09 %) over their winning streak. Overall their defense has been a strength allowing a 14th best 61.6 points per game.
On the other side of the court, scoring has been an issue at times this season, and that certainly has stood out in conference play where they have averaged just 64 PPG scoring 61 or fewer in two of the three ACC contests.
Defensively Duke has been a notch lower than the top ACC scoring defense clubs this season, but that doesn’t mean it’s a liability allowing a 36th in the nation 65.1 points per game. What the Blue Devils have done exceptionally well this season is holding a high percentage of their opponents to below seasonal FG shooting averages and rank 7th in the nation in that metric (37.3%).
Offensively Duke has lit it up with 90.2 points per game this season, but that number drops to 84.7 in ACC games. Last season in two games the pace was slow with 107 opportunities from the field in each game, and if Syracuse can dictate the pace this time around, we’re likely to see this trend continue.
Syracuse at Duke Prediction 1/14/18
Sure, the teams have different parts from last season, but the approach shouldn’t be altered this time around. Syracuse is coming off a poor effort especially defensively where they allowed Georgia Tech to shoot 59.5 from the floor and should make that a priority tonight. Duke’s third-ranked scoring offense can light it up against anyone, but after the scare against Florida State, I think they will also focus on their defensive play. Last season in the first match they totaled 104 points and in the second 134.