Duke is the better team on both sides of the ball. However, the Tigers style is very slow and wants force the game into a half-court contest. Clemson has been competitive against the Blue Devils, covering five of the last seven meetings. Duke is on an 0-3 ATS run and is 4-8 ATS in the past 12 games when favored by double digits. Clemson has only been an underdog twice this season and covered both times.
Clemson became the latest team to get picked off in its first game back from the Cal-Stanford Bay Area road trip, which becoming a bit of a trend in the ACC over the last two seasons. Virginia Tech is a decent team, but the double-digit home loss was uncharacteristic of the quality that Brad Brownell’s group has shown for much of the season. Here the Tigers get a chance to bounce back against a Duke team that has, for much of the season, been a better team in the second half. With Clemson itching to bring the fight to the Blue Devils in an early Saturday start in Cameron, I think the Tigers can be inside the number heading the locker room at halftime.
