Pitt Faces Tough Road Matchup at Duke

The ninth-ranked Duke Blue Devils (16-3) will try to keep pace with the top two teams in the ACC when they host the Pittsburgh Panthers (13-7) in a key conference matchup for both schools. The Blue Devils are looking up at the Louisville Cardinals and Florida State Seminoles in the ACC standings after dropping two of their last three games straight up and against the spread, while the Panthers are hoping to rebound and move to .500 in conference play following a 69-61 loss to the Syracuse Orange as 6-point road underdogs on Saturday.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The point spread has dropped slightly to -16 at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark while the total has stayed steady. The spread still seems a bit high, and Duke has closed as a favorite of 14 points or more in the previous three home meetings, going 0-2-1 ATS.

Pittsburgh News & Notes

Prior to falling at Syracuse, Pittsburgh had won two straight games, covering the spread as a 3-point home favorite in a 66-52 rout of the North Carolina Tar Heels on January 18 and then failing to beat the number in a 74-72 victory against the Boston College Eagles as 11-point chalk four days later. The Panthers have gotten off to slow starts in each of their last two, though, and simply were unable to rally enough vs the Orange to pull off a third consecutive win.

Pittsburgh trailed Boston College 33-28 at halftime before earning the victory with a strong second-half effort, and the team was down 32-21 after the first 20 minutes at Syracuse as well. The Panthers started their rally against the Orange with four minutes remaining in the first half, going down 30-10 before scoring 11 of the last 13 points.  

Duke News & Notes

The Blue Devils play their next three games on the road after this contest, so building off their 89-59 blowout of the Miami Hurricanes in their last one at home a week ago is essential in this spot. Duke covered the 19-point spread easily vs Miami but had failed to do so in three of its previous four games, including back-to-back losses to the Cardinals and Clemson Tigers.

Based on futures odds to win the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils remain one of the favorites to cut down the nets despite this rough patch, and they can continue to climb the ranks with a strong week starting here. Duke visits Syracuse on Saturday and then takes on Boston College and North Carolina next week, so the team should not get caught looking ahead.

Betting Pick: UNDER 137.5

Sportsbooks have definitely adjusted down based on the most recent results between these two teams, as the past five meetings that finished UNDER the total all closed at 148 or higher. Keeping that in mind, the UNDER is also 3-1 in the last four road games for Pittsburgh, with the team averaging 59.5 points. Look for more of the same as the total stays UNDER again.