College basketball’s biggest rivalry resumes tonight as No. 10 Duke takes on No. 5 North Carolina in Chapel Hill. This evening’s ACC showdown is scheduled to get underway at 9:00pm ET at the Dean E. Smith Center; it will be broadcast live on ESPN. The latest NCAAB Picks have the hosting Tar Heels listed as a -6 against the spread home favorite and the game total set at 157 points.
Duke, while still in the ACC title chase, has lost some luster, if not steam, coming into tonight’s skirmish with the Tar Heels. The Blue Devils, at 19-4 overall and 6-2 in conference play, are third in the league standings and just a game back of North Carolina and Florida State; however, they have dropped two of their last five games and both of those losses came at Cameron Indoor.
The aforementioned Seminoles rolled into Durham on January 21st and escaped with a 76-73 victory, and, even more shockingly, the 14-7 Miami Hurricanes beat Duke 78-74 in overtime on Sunday. The Blue Devils got beat on the boards 42-40 and the Hurricanes forced them into a 38.2 percent effort from the field. Duke also made its own significant contribution to the stunning loss, though, by hitting just 13 of its 22 free throw attempts.
Unfortunately or, perhaps, fortunately for Coach Krzyzewski’s squad, it was not afforded a lot of time for wound licking with the Tar Heels next on the docket. Suffice it to say North Carolina, despite dropping four of its last five against the Blue Devils, represents a a major threat to hand Duke its first back-to-back losses of the season.
Roy Williams’ crew, which also suffered a loss to the Seminoles, comes into this evening’s game having won five straight. Following their loss to FSU, the Tar Heels beat Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and Maryland and they did so by an average of 13.8 points per game.
North Carolina’s most recent victory came against the Terrapins at College Park on Saturday. Despite battling a sprained ankle Harrison Barnes scored 15 points and grabbed eight boards in the win. Tyler Zeller scored a game-high 22 points while John Henson posted a 17 point, 12 rebound double-double. Guard Kendall Marshall added nine points and a career high 16 assists.
The advantage certainly goes to North Carolina tonight with the game being in Chapel Hill, but the Blue Devils figure to bounce back from Sunday’s loss and make things interesting. Do not be surprised if Duke takes this to the wire, putting itself in position to pull off the upset.
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Duke vs North Carolina 2012 NCAAB Picks: Provided by Bovada.lv
Duke Blue Devils +6 (-110), Over 157 (-110)
North Carolina Tar Heels -6 (-110), Under 157 (-110)
