Duke vs Notre Dame Basketball Free Pick

Saturday at 4 pm ET The Duke Blue Devils will host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The current point spread at top online sportsbooks is Duke -12 and the total is 151.5 as well.

Cameron Indoor will be rocking as Duke players and fans hope to get this important win and do so in dominant fashion after pulling off to squeakers in their last two outings (beat FSU by 5 and beat UNC by just 2). Duke is currently 21-3 and have won 6 games in a row. They are just 12-12 against the spread (ATS).

Notre Dame is 15-9 straight up and against the spread. Before losing to Virginia by one point, they had won four games straight. The Irish have shown flashes of greatness this season but are really only slightly above average overall.

Tre Jones is the man to watch for the Devils. He had 28 points against UNC. He also had five rebounds and five assists in that game, the first player to go at least 28-5-5 since MJ did it in the 1980’s.

Head to Head

It has been very lopsided in years past. Duke holds a 25-7 all time lead over Notre Dame. But Notre Dame has battled in this most recent decade, going 5-6 against the Blue Devils since 2013. In their last ten match-ups Duke is 6-4 SU & ATS against the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame will be relying heavily on Senior Forward John Mooney. He averages 16 PPG and a whopping 13 RPG. If he doesn’t play well, Notre Dame doesn’t play well.

Duke, on the other hand, prides itself on being a team and not having an individual star player to depend on. Vernon Carey Jr. does lead the team 17.5 PPG but Trey Jones scores 15 and Cassius Stanley scores 12 PPG. The Duke bench sees plenty of action as well so look for a lot of substitutions.

Conclusion

Notre Dame will come to play and play they will. But the Dookies will wear them out with better all-around talent. The line seems a bit high with Duke -12.5. Notre Dame is scrappy and they have been playing good ball lately. Its just too many point to lay to the Irish. Take the Irish and the point.