Best Louisville vs. Duke Betting Picks for Tuesday, Feb. 28
By Cem Yolbulan
After falling to Wake Forest over the weekend, Duke has an excellent opportunity to bounce back against the weakest opponent in the ACC at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday. The Blue Devils had a chance to win at Wake Forest and extend their winning streak to six, but they fell short while struggling to stop the Demon Deacons' offense.
Before Duke enters the tough final stretch of the season where they play Virginia, NC State, and UNC in the last three games, they can't afford to drop a game against the 8-19 Louisville Cardinals.
Louisville vs. Duke Odds, Spread, and Total
Louisville vs. Duke Best Bet and Prediction
The spread for this game is representative of the talent gap between the two sides. The Blue Devils are 20-point favorites, their largest spread of conference play. Duke has covered against the spread in five of their last six games, but this will be a challenge.
Louisville has only won one game on the road all season and lost three straight games with an average margin of 20.3 points. They have the worst defense in the ACC.
In their previous matchup, Duke came away with an easy 83-69 road win in a game where they scored with ease, especially on the interior. That trend should continue on Wednesday night.
The only way Louisville can keep this close is if Duke is complacent. The Blue Devils can turn the ball over a lot and get into foul trouble at times. If they allow transition opportunities and trips to the free-throw line for the Cardinals, things could get interesting.
Any game with a 20-point spread is difficult to predict. Picking any team to beat a conference rival by over 20 points is tough. Duke beat Louisville by 14 in their previous matchup and still failed to cover. That's why it makes more sense to go with the points total.
Duke will have no trouble scoring against Louisville, and if the Cardinals get enough transition opportunities and hit open shots, this will be a high-scoring affair.
My pick: Over 151.5
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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.