North Carolina State Wolfpack vs Duke Blue Devils Prediction, 3/31/2024 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: NC State Wolfpack vs Duke Blue Devils

Date: Sunday, March 31, 2024

Location: American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX

TV: CBS

Odds/Point Spread: North Carolina State (+7)

The Duke Blue Devils (27-8) will play the NC State Wolfpack (25-14) at American Airlines Center on Sunday in the Elite 8. Duke opens this matchup as 7-point favorites from oddsmakers. The over/under comes in at 142.

The NC State Wolfpack faced off with Marquette and notched a win by a score of 67-58 in their last game. North Carolina State ended the contest with a 46.4% FG percentage (26 out of 56) and knocked down 9 of their 23 shots from beyond the arc. From the charity stripe, the Wolfpack converted 6 of 12 tries for a percentage of 50.0%. When it comes to grabbing rebounds, they collected 37 with 6 of them being offensive. They also recorded 14 dimes in this game in addition to creating 9 turnovers and earning 6 steals. Concerning defense, North Carolina State let their opponent shoot 33.3% from the floor on 20 of 60 shooting. Marquette earned 8 dimes and had 7 steals in this game. Furthermore, Marquette snagged 33 boards (9 offensive, 24 defensive), but couldn't earn a rejection. Marquette ended up shooting 60.9% at the free throw line by knocking down 14 of their 23 tries. They also converted 4 out of their 31 attempts from three-point range. With respect to personal fouls, the Wolfpack ended up with 16 and Marquette accounted for 15 personal fouls.

DJ Horne is a player who was a contributor in this matchup. He walked away from this one shooting 40.0% from the field and recorded 1 assist. He was on the court for 29 mins played and also snagged 5 boards. He walked away with 19 points on 6 out of 15 shooting.

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North Carolina State comes into this game with a mark of 25-14 for the year. They are losing possession via turnover 9.6 times per game and as a basketball team they are committing 16.3 personal fouls per game. As a unit, North Carolina State is pulling in 35.4 rebounds per game and has racked up 510 assists on the season, which ranks 64th in D-1 in terms of passing the ball. The Wolfpack are connecting on 34.8% on shots from downtown (277 of 795) and 73.3% from the free throw line. They are averaging 76.3 pts per game (100th in college basketball) while hitting 45.1% from the floor.

Defensively, the Wolfpack have forced 12.2 turnovers every game and they draw 16.2 personal fouls. They are 343rd in D-1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 503 relinquished this year. The Wolfpack defensively are giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 43.7% (1,002 of 2,294) and they concede 35.9 rebounds per game as a team. They are conceding 33.5% on shots from beyond the arc while they are 190th in college basketball in points per game allowed (72.2).

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the Duke Blue Devils walked away with a victory by a final of 54-51 when they played Houston. The Blue Devils were able to snag 19 defensive boards and 10 offensive boards totaling 29 for this game. They also coughed up the ball 12 times, while getting 4 steals in this contest. Houston earned 12 fouls for the contest which took the Blue Devils to the free throw line for a total of 12 attempts. They were able to knock down 8 of those for a percentage of 66.7%. When discussing shooting from 3-point land, Duke converted 6 of 17 attempts (35.3%). When this game wrapped up, the Blue Devils finished shooting 20 out of 49 from the field which had them shooting 40.8%. The Blue Devils permitted Houston to convert 20 of 49 tries from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 40.8% for this contest. They finished the game shooting 25.0% from three-point range by shooting 2 out of 8 and ended up shooting 9 of 17 at the free throw line (52.9%). In reference to attacking the glass, Duke permitted Houston to get 27 in all (9 offensive).

Kyle Filipowski ended up being a factor for the Blue Devils in the matchup. He converted 6 of 14 in this matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 42.9%, and totaled 9 rebounds. He had 16 points in his 34 mins of playing time and had 2 assists for the contest.

Duke has a win-loss mark of 27-8 for the year. When it comes to offensive execution, the Blue Devils are connecting on 48.0% from the floor, which is 24th in the country. Duke has accounted for 2,766 pts this season (79.0 per contest) and they collect 36.5 rebounds per game. They are dishing out assists 15.4 times per contest (48th in the nation) and they turn the ball over 9.7 times per contest. The Blue Devils commit 15.7 fouls per contest and they go 72.0% from the charity stripe.

The Blue Devils are ranked 26th in college hoops in points allowed per contest with 66.0. They are able to force 11.5 turnovers on a nightly basis and have allowed teams to shoot 42.9% from the floor (131st in college basketball). The Duke defense surrenders 32.0% on 3-pointers (224 of 700) and opponents are making 67.6% of their foul shots. They have conceded 12.4 assists and 31.3 boards every game, which has them ranked 134th and 19th in college hoops.

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Duke (-7)

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