WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARUY 10, 2010
#8 Duke Blue Devils (19-4) vs. North Carolina Tar Heels (13-10)
The No.8 Duke Blue Devils will try to maintain their position atop the ACC with a win over the struggling North Carolina Tar Heels on Wednesday at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
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The Tar Heels knocked off the Blue Devils 79-71 in their previous meeting on March 8, 2009, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference’s regular-season title and earning the top seed in the NCAA tournament.
Defending national champion North Carolina has lost three straight, and six of seven including a 92-71 thumping at Maryland on Sunday. Marcus Ginyard scored 17 points while leading scorer Deon Thompson had 16 in the win. Thompson has been held to under 10 points three times during the last seven games since suffering an ankle injury last month. It is the worst losing streak for North Carolina since 2002. They are 10th in the ACC, a half-game out of last place. The Tar Heels had been averaging 80.0 points per game, but has been limited to just 69.8 over its last seven games.
Over in Durham, Duke’s Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith had 21 points apiece as the Blue Devils’ edged out a 66-63 victory over Boston College on Saturday. Kyle Singler contributed 12 points in the win. Scheyer (18.9 points per game) ranks second in the ACC in scoring, Smith (18.1) is tied for third and Singler (16.6) is seventh. Duke is outscoring the opposition by roughly 19 points per game (82.1 to 63.0), while shooting 46.3 percent from the field, 39.4 percent from long range and 76.6 percent from the free-throw line. Their only flaw has been their trouble on the road this year, with all four of their losses coming in seven games away from Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Guard play remains the biggest issue for the Tar Heels and Duke’s league-best 39.0 percent from beyond the arc will only magnify that problem.
The odds makers have the Blue Devils as –4 ½ -point favorites in this one.
I expect a commanding double-digit win of for the Blues Devils in this one.
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- Duke is 8-4 ATS in its last 12 games
- Duke is 19-4 SU in its last 23 games
- Duke is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
- Duke is 2-6 ATS in its last 8 games when playing North Carolina
- North Carolina is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games
- North Carolina is 1-6 SU in its last 7 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 7 of North Carolina’s last 8 games
- North Carolina is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games at home
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