Duke Blue Devils vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish Prediction, 12/16/2020 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Duke Blue Devils vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Location: Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, IN

TV: ESPN

Odds/Point Spread: Duke (-3.5)

Purcell Pavilion is the venue where and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-2) will play the Duke Blue Devils (2-2) on Wednesday. The spread on this matchup has Duke as 3.5-point favorites. The total has been set at 147.

Duke will play this contest with a win-loss mark of 2-2 for the year. They are turning it over 16.0 times per contest and as a basketball team they commit 19.3 fouls per contest. As a team, Duke is pulling down 40.3 boards per contest and has accounted for 63 assists this year, which ranks 168th in college hoops in terms of passing. The Blue Devils are shooting 32.7% on three-point shots (32 of 98) and 65.6% from the charity stripe. They average 73.5 points per game (174th in the nation) while shooting 44.2% from the field. On defense, the Blue Devils are able to force 15.3 turnovers every game and they draw 16.5 personal fouls. The Blue Devils are giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 43.2% (102 of 236) and they surrender 35.3 boards per game as a group. They are ranked 86th in college basketball in allowing assists to their opponents with 42 surrendered for the campaign. They are relinquishing 33.3% from 3-point land and they rank 184th in college hoops in points per game allowed (70.8).

The Duke Blue Devils took the court against the Illinois Fighting Illini and went home with a loss by a final score of 83-68 in their last game. Duke wrapped up the contest with a 40.3% field goal percentage (27 of 67) and converted 5 out of their 22 3-point shots. From the charity stripe, the Blue Devils converted 9 of 16 attempts for a percentage of 56.3%. In relation to grabbing rebounds, they collected 31 with 10 of them being of the offensive sort. They also doled out 14 assists for this game in addition to earning 8 steals and 5 blocks. Concerning defense, Duke allowed the other team to go 40.3% from the floor on 27 of 67. Illinois earned 13 dimes and 7 steals for the game. Furthurmore, the Fighting Illini snagged 35 rebounds (3 offensive, 32 defensive) and added 5 rejections. Illinois finished the game shooting 75.0% from the charity stripe by making 18 of 24 shots. They converted 7 of their 11 shots from long range.

DJ Steward is someone who came through in the game. He ended up scoring 13 points on 5 out of 9 shooting. He was on the hardwood for 28 mins played and also collected 2 rebounds. Steward walked away from this one shooting 55.6% from the floor and earned 2 assists. Someone else that had an impact in this contest for the Blue Devils was Matthew Hurt. He grabbed 7 rebounds and also earned 2 assists. He finished the game shooting 53.3% from the floor for the contest by shooting 8-of-15 (19 points). When this game wrapped up, Hurt was on the hardwood for 30 minutes.

Notre Dame has a win-loss mark of 2-2 on the year. As an offensive team, the Fighting Irish are connecting on 44.1% from the floor, which is ranked 212th in the country. Notre Dame has accounted for 297 pts so far this year (74.3 per contest) and they collect 36.5 boards per contest. They are assisting teammates 14.0 times per contest (149th in D-1) and they are giving up possession 11.8 times per game. The Fighting Irish commit 13.5 fouls per game and they hit 80.0% from the charity stripe. The Fighting Irish defensively are ranked 246th in college hoops in points allowed per game with 75.8. The Notre Dame defense surrenders 32.3% on 3-point shots (31 of 96) and their opposition knocks down 82.1% of their shots from the free throw line. They allow 16.3 assists and 37.3 total boards per game, which is ranked 282nd and 224th in D-1. They are forcing 9.5 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 42.6% from the floor (172nd in D-1).

The last time they took the hardwood, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish walked away with a victory by a final of 64-63 against the Kentucky Wildcats. The Fighting Irish collected 22 defensive rebounds and 6 offensive rebounds totaling 28 in this contest. They also blocked 4 shots while earning 4 steals in this matchup. The Wildcats had 16 fouls for the contest which took the Fighting Irish to the charity stripe for 12 shots. They were able to bury 11 of the free throw tries for a rate of 91.7%. When talking about shooting from distance, Notre Dame converted 7 of 21 tries (33.3%). When all was said and done, the Fighting Irish finished 23 out of 52 from the field which gave them a percentage of 44.2%. The Fighting Irish permitted the Wildcats to bury 27 of 62 tries from the field which left them shooting 43.5% for this game. They finished 21.7% from 3-point land by going 5 out of 23 and finished the contest at 4 out of 6 from the charity stripe (66.7%). In reference to team rebounding, Notre Dame permitted Kentucky to get 28 overall (9 on the offensive glass).

Prentiss Hubb ended up being a major contributor for the Fighting Irish in this game. He buried 8 out of 17 in the matchup for a rate of 47.1%, which gave him 18 points. Hubb pulled down 2 rebounds in his 37 minutes and added 2 dimes for this game. An additional guy who saw a lot of minutes for Notre Dame was Nate Laszewski. He notched 21 points in 38 minutes on the court via 6 out of 10 shooting for this contest. Laszewski finished going 60.0% from the field as well as contributing 2 assists and 9 rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Duke (-3.5)

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