Virginia Tech Hokies vs Duke Blue Devils Prediction, 3/12/2022 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Virginia Tech Hokies vs Duke Blue Devils

Date: Saturday, March 12, 2022

Location: Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY

TV: ESPN

Odds/Point Spread: Virginia Tech (+6)

The Virginia Tech Hokies (22-12) are traveling to Barclays Center on Saturday where they will try to defeat the Duke Blue Devils (28-5). Duke opens as 6-point favorites. The over/under comes in at 138.5.

The Virginia Tech Hokies faced North Carolina and earned the victory with a final of 72-59 in their last game. When talking about personal fouls, the Hokies left the arena with 15 and North Carolina recorded 15 personal fouls. They also converted 3 of 26 attempts from downtown. North Carolina went 85.7% at the charity stripe by making 12 of their 14 shots. Additionally, North Carolina snagged 35 boards (10 offensive, 25 defensive), but finished the game with no rejections. North Carolina doled out 14 assists and had 4 steals in the game. Pertaining to the defense, Virginia Tech allowed 36.7% from the field on 22 out of 60 shooting. They also dished out 14 assists in the game while forcing 11 turnovers and earning 5 steals. In the matter of pulling down boards, they earned 32 with 5 of them being of the offensive sort. When they shot from the free throw line, the Hokies converted 13 of 14 tries for a percentage of 92.9%. Virginia Tech finished the contest with a 43.9% FG percentage (25 of 57) and buried 9 of their 20 3-pointers.

Keve Aluma is one player who was a factor for the contest. He went 42.9% from the field and also dished out 3 assists. He was on the court for 30 minutes and collected 4 rebounds. He scored 18 points on 6 of 14 shooting.

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Virginia Tech will play this contest with a mark of 22-12 on the year. They average 70.4 points per outing (199th in the country) on 47.0% from the field. The Hokies are connecting on 39.1% on shots from 3-point land (305 of 780) and 74.5% from the free throw line. As a team, Virginia Tech is collecting 32.1 boards per game and has tallied 486 dimes this year, which ranks 39th in college basketball in terms of passing the ball. They are giving up possession 10.9 times per game and as a team are committing 14.6 fouls per contest.

On the defensive end, the Hokies have forced 12.1 turnovers on a nightly basis and they draw 14.6 fouls. They are 196th in college basketball in giving up assists to the opposition with 398 conceded on the campaign. The Hokies are allowing an opponent FG percentage of 42.7% (780 of 1,827) and they concede 30.5 rebounds per contest as a group. They are giving up 32.0% from 3-point land and they are 21st in college basketball in points per game allowed (62.1).

When they last played, the Duke Blue Devils walked away with a victory by a final of 80-76 when they played Miami. The Blue Devils collected 27 defensive boards and 11 offensive boards for a total of 38 in this game. They turned the ball over 9 times, while getting 3 steals in the game. Miami was called for 21 personal fouls for the game which got the Blue Devils to the charity stripe for a total of 22 shots. They were able to knock down 17 of those for a clip of 77.3%. When it comes to shots from 3-point land, Duke knocked down 5 of 19 attempts (26.3%). Overall, the Blue Devils finished 29 out of 58 from the floor which had them shooting 50.0%. The Blue Devils allowed Miami to bury 31 of 66 attempts from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 47.0% in this matchup. They finished 38.1% from 3-point land by connecting on 8 of 21 and finished the contest at 6 out of 12 at the free throw line (50.0%). When talking about cleaning the glass, Duke permitted Miami to grab 27 in total (9 on the offensive glass).

Paolo Banchero ended up being a major contributor for the Blue Devils in this game. He had 18 points in his 38 mins of playing time and tallied 4 dimes in the matchup. He converted 8 out of 10 in this game for a rate of 80.0%, and had 11 rebounds.

Duke has a mark of 28-5 on the year. The Blue Devils commit 13.6 fouls per game and they hit 73.2% from the charity stripe. They are assisting teammates 17.2 times per contest (9th in college basketball) and they turn it over 10.2 times per contest. Duke has tallied 2,659 pts on the year (80.6 per contest) and they pull in 38.7 rebounds per game. When it comes to offensive execution, the Blue Devils are connecting on 48.9% from the field, which ranks them 9th in the country.

The Blue Devils defensively are ranked 105th in Division 1 in PPG given up with 66.7. They are forcing their opponents into 11.1 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 41.4% from the field (81st in college basketball). The Duke defense allows 31.0% on three-point shots (217 of 701) and opponents are making 67.2% of their shots from the free throw line. They have relinquished 13.5 dimes and 33.8 boards every game, which is 256th and 139th in those defensive categories.

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Duke (-6)

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