No. 6 North Carolina Tar Heels at No. 3 Duke Blue Devils
Saturday, 3/3/12, 7:00 PM EST, TV: ESPN
Opening Point Spread: North Carolina PK
Current Betting Line: North Carolina -2
Opening Total: 154
Current Total: 154
Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker
North Carolina has won six games in a row since coughing up a large lead in dropping an 85-84 contest to the Duke Blue Devils as six-point home favorites on Feb. 8. “They’re going to be ready to play because of that happened last time,” commented Blue Devils freshman guard Austin Rivers. For the fourth time in the last seven seasons, the ACC regular season champion will be determined by the second game in this particular series. The program has won six consecutive conference road games, while going 29-5 in its last 34 ACC contests overall. North Carolina is 5-1 ATS as a favorite.
The Tar Heels are 6-2 under current head coach Roy Williams in all second meetings of the season with the Blue Devils. North Carolina has allowed Duke to shoot 50 percent from the floor just once in 18 tries in the Williams’ era. One of the major strengths of this squad is getting after it on the glass, out-rebounding its last 12 conference opponents, which is the longest streak against ACC teams since the 2007-08 campaign. Harrison Barnes and Tyler Zeller are the players to watch in this affair on the offensive end, combining to score 48 points last month against Saturday’s opponent.
Duke kick started its current seven-game win streak with the comeback victory in Chapel Hill and comes off a 79-71 win over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons as 12-point road favorites. Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski is 37-36 all-time in this series, including a 16-15 mark when playing inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. The program has won both regular seasons meetings against North Carolina seven times under Krzyzewski’s direction. Duke is 1-7 ATS in its last eight home games and the “over” is 5-2 in that situation.
The Blue Devils will definitely want to get the ball in the hands of Rivers, but they will also want to get Seth Curry involved, as he’s averaging 17.0 points per game in four career meetings with the Tar Heels. Duke lives and dies on the perimeter, coming in with four players hitting at least 40 shots from beyond the arc. The team leads conference members in both shooting 39.0 percent from 3-point range and making 252 3-point shots.
Bettors will likely back the Tar Heels due to their 5-1 ATS mark at Duke, while the home team is 2-8 ATS in the last 10 meetings.
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