Duke and NC State renew pleasantries for the third time this month, but this time with a spot in the Final Four on the line.
Following one of the most surprising runs in NCAA Tournament history, the Blue Devils will look to stop the Wolfpack’s stunning winning streak that has put them on the heels of a Final Four bid. Duke, who is off a win against Houston, has found its stride on both sides of the floor in hopes of returning to the Final Four for the second time in three years.
With such a monumental matchup, let’s take a stab at a final score prediction? While a long shot, this will give some insight into how I see this game unfolding.
Here’s the betting information for this game as well as a preview and a final score prediction:
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NC State vs. Duke Odds, Spread and Total
NC State vs. Duke Betting Preview
NC State deserves a ton of credit for getting here, but I’d be remiss not to mention that Marquette made only four of its 31 three-point shots in the Wolfpack’s nine-point win on Friday night.
The Golden Eagles, an above average to elite perimeter offense went cold on the wrong night and it was the difference in the game. Now, against Duke’s elite set of shot makers, I don’t believe the Wolfpack will be as fortunate.
Duke is 13th in the country in three-point percentage, and if the team is going to get a handful of open looks from beyond the arc like Marquette had, this will be a tough ask for NC State to keep up.
NC State vs. Duke Final Score Prediction
As mentioned above, I like Duke to win pretty convincingly in this matchup, but this game may be more of an offensive struggle if the South Region semifinals was any indication.
Both games went under the modest totals in the first two matchups with both games resulting in a ton of missed jump shots. While Duke is the best perimeter shooting teams of the bunch, I’m not counting on a dominant three-point shooting effort based on the arena.
I believe we see Duke continue to use its methodical offense and late shot clock execution to get past NC State, and win this game around the rim with its array of ball handlers. Duke is 65th in field goal percentage at the rim while NC State is right at the national average, 150th in the country, per Haslametrics.
It may not be pretty, but I like Duke to win with ease.
Final Score Prediction: Duke 73, NC State 60
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.