College Basketball action continues on ESPN as the Duke Blue Devils (14-5) travel to Blacksburg to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies (11-8). Check out our college basketball odds series for our Duke-Virginia Tech prediction and pick.
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has become the most hotly-contested conference in college hoops. Nine teams sit within three games behind conference leader Clemson. An unlikely leader in a conference historically ruled by Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia, all teams are gunning for the Tigers at the top spot. Duke will look to add some more wins to their season total after notching impressive victories against ranked opponents. Their most recent, against the Miami Hurricanes, saw key player Jeremy Roach make a tremendous impact after returning from injury. Virginia Tech will look to spoil the season for Duke as they will be playing in front of a packed arena in Blacksburg. This game may be especially important for Virginia Tech to win and improve their season – the energy inside Cassell Coliseum will be electric come Monday night.
Here are the Duke-Virginia Tech college basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: Duke-Virginia Tech Odds
Duke: +2.5 (-105)
Virginia Tech: -2.5 (-115)
Over: 137.5 (-110)
Under: 137.5 (-110)
How To Watch Duke vs. Virginia Tech
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN App, ESPN+
Time: 7:00 pm ET/ 4:00 pm PT
*Watch college basketball LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why Duke Could Cover The Spread
Duke won 10 of its first 12 games on the season, marking a familiar start for the Duke Blue Devils. Since, however, they’ve struggled to get much-needed wins against other ACC opponents. While this may come as a surprise to the blue-blood program, the fact is that the ACC is a much more competitive conference this year. What would historically be blowout wins against the likes of Wake Forest or NC State have turned into losses on Duke’s record, seeing them in the middle of the ACC rankings. Nevertheless, Duke can salvage their season by winning most of their games down the stretch, and it starts with Virginia Tech tonight.
The return of Jeremy Roach could not have come at a better time. He adds so much to this Blue Devil offense with the way he can create his own scoring opportunities. When facing stingy defenses like Virginia Tech, it’ll be essential to have a few players who can shoot you out of scoring droughts; Jeremy Roach and Kyle Filipkowski are those guys. Filipkowski has been a dominant center all year. With Roach back, it takes some of the defensive pressure off of Filipkowski and allows the Blue Devils to spread the floor. They’ll have too many weapons in this one for Virginia Tech to keep up.
Why Virginia Tech Could Cover The Spread
Blacksburg, VA may be one of the tougher venues to steal a road win at in college basketball. Duke is no stranger to playing at the Coliseum, but Virginia Tech often remembers the many upsets they’ve pulled off on their court in recent memory. They’ll have those memories in mind when trying to stifle the Blue Devils on Monday night. The Hokies had one of their hottest starts in school history this year, going an impressive 11-1. Since then, however, the Hokies have lost the last seven consecutive games and plummeted to an 11-9 overall record. That kind of skid must be demoralizing for a team. They may feel like they have lost their ability to close out games and break this losing streak. The most important player on this team is Justyn Mutts: the 6’7″ Senior is leading his team in almost all defensive categories and is the backbone of the Hokies stingy half-court defense. They’ll need to lean on him to make important defensive stops while the rest of the team works to create turnovers. The noise in Blacksburg will be deafening and it’ll all work to the Hokies’ advantage.
Final Duke-Virginia Tech Prediction & Pick
This will be a close, exciting game. The crowd will keep the Hokies competitive throughout, but I think the key players for Duke will step up in the toughest moments. Look for the Blue Devils to advance to a win here against Virginia Tech.
Final Duke-Virginia Tech Prediction & Pick: Duke Blue Devils +2.5 (-105)
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