Huge game in the ACC on Tuesday night as No. 3 Duke visits No. 20 Virginia Tech. The Duke Blue Devils enter the week in a three-way tie atop the conference, while Virginia Tech sits fourth. Duke won’t have freshman star Zion Williamson, which will certainly affect the latest college basketball odds for this one.
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How to Bet Duke vs Virginia Tech NCAAB Odds & Game Info
Keeping the road recap streak. 🔥🎥🔥 pic.twitter.com/HlpE7sm992
— Duke Basketball (@DukeMBB) 26 de febrero de 2019
- When: Tuesday, 7 PM ET
- Where: Cassel Coliseum
- TV: ESPN
- Live Stream: WatchESPN
- NCAAB Odds: Duke Blue Devils -4.5 (Total 145.5)
Season Series
First and only scheduled meeting. Last year, the teams split. The one in Blacksburg was a 64-63 Tech victory. Chris Clarke’s tip-in with four seconds left was the winner. The Blue Devils committed 18 turnovers, and the Hokies turned them into 24 points. Duke turned 12 Tech miscues into just six points.
The Blue Devils used an early 19-3 run to quiet the crowd and open a 29-14 lead, but the Hokies almost immediately responded by scoring 11 straight points. Grayson Allen led Duke with 22 points, but his 3-point try before the buzzer missed. Wendell Carter Jr. grabbed the rebound, but the clock ran out before his layup went through. Both those guys are now in the NBA.
Why Bet on Duke?
Duke lost at home to North Carolina last Wednesday and saw superstar freshman Zion Williamson go down just 36 seconds in with a knee injury after his Nike shoe basically exploded. Williamson didn’t play Saturday as Duke won 75-65 at Syracuse. The Blue Devils (24-3, 12-2) improved to 7-0 on the road in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It’s Duke’s best start on the road in conference play since going undefeated in ACC road games in 2011-12. Duke is the nation’s only remaining undefeated team on the road this season. The Orange hit only 1 of 11 3-pointers in the decisive second half.
Freshman RJ Barrett recorded his second consecutive 30-point game and sixth this season (one shy of tying the ACC freshman record held by Duke’s Marvin Bagley III) with 30 points on 14-of-20 shooting. Barrett’s 14 field goals set a career high. He has scored 20+ points in 20 games this season, setting an ACC freshman record for most 20-point games. The previous record of 19 games was held by Georgia Tech’s Kenny Anderson (1989-90). With 630 points, Barrett moved to fourth on Duke’s single-season freshman scoring list. He is 64 points shy of tying the Duke freshman record set by Bagley (694) last season.
Sophomore Alex O’Connell made his second career start (first this season) and scored a career-high 20 points on a career-best 5-of-8 from three-point range. O’Connell started for Zion.
Will Williamson play here? Nope. Williamson is “getting better,” but he won’t be on the court, according to coach Mike Krzyzewski. “There’s no timetable. We don’t want to put the pressure of time on him.” Krzyzewski said Duke medical personnel are being cautious and not “rushing” the 6-foot-7, 282-pound star back into action.
Williamson is averaging 21.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 2.2 steals and 2.2 assists this season. He’s also made 37 percent of his 3-point attempts in ACC play. Most believe he will be the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft.
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 85.48
- Field Goal Percentage: 47.86
- Three-Point Percentage: 30.64
- Free Throw Percentage: 69.00
- Total Rebounds: 42.19
Defense
- Total Score: 66.89
- Field Goal Percentage: 39.48
- Three-Point Percentage: 28.74
- Free Throw Percentage: 68.91
- Total Rebounds: 35.63
Why Bet on Virginia Tech?
Tech is off a 67-59 home win at Notre Dame on Saturday. The Fighting Irish missed nine of their first 10 shots and committed four turnovers over the opening nine minutes, forcing them to play catch-up all day. The Irish got as close as six points on three occasions in the second half but suffered their third straight loss and ninth in their last 11 outings. Tech outrebounded the Irish 49-27. The 22-board difference is their best this season in a league game and tied a season-high versus North Carolina A&T on Dec. 19.
Hokie redshirt junior Kerry Blackshear Jr. recorded a game-high 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting with a game-best 14 rebounds and three assists, racking up his sixth double-double of the season. The Hokies (21-6, 10-5 ACC) were also paced by sophomore Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who joined Blackshear in double figures with 12 points, three rebounds, and two assists.
Blackshear has been on a tear as of late, scoring at least 20 points in his last three games for the first time in his career. In his last three contests, he is averaging 24.7 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists, while shooting an impressive 71.4 percent from the field.
With 10 ACC wins, the Hokies have now won exactly 10 league games for the fourth year in a row. The five conference road wins match the last year’s total, which ties the best mark in the Buzz Williams era.
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 74.41
- Field Goal Percentage: 47.81
- Three-Point Percentage: 40.06
- Free Throw Percentage: 75.43
- Total Rebounds: 32.56
Defense
- Total Score: 61.15
- Field Goal Percentage: 40.46
- Three-Point Percentage: 33.95
- Free Throw Percentage: 70.73
- Total Rebounds: 29.41
Duke vs Virginia Tech NCAAB Betting Trends
- Home team is 5-0 ATS in the last 5 meetings
- Under is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings in Virginia Tech
- Duke is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
- Duke is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games when playing Virginia Tech
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Duke’s last 5 games on the road
- Virginia Tech is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games at home
- Virginia Tech is 13-2 SU in its last 15 games at home
- The total has gone OVER in 6 of Virginia Tech’s last 7 games at home
Expert NCAAB Betting Prediction
With no Zion, take Tech.
