The Duke Blue Devils are riding a late-season surge into March Madness, and will now face the Tennessee Volunteers with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen on the line. Fans and bettors alike will undoubtedly be paying close attention to the matchup of the two blue blood programs, and the early Tennessee-Duke betting odds & trends show the Blue Devils are favored to continue their stretch of solid play.
Tennessee-Duke Betting Odds & Spread: Duke Clicking at the Right Time
Per DraftKings Sportsbook, Duke (-3.5) comes in as the slight favorite over Tennessee. The Blue Devils are -165 on the moneyline, with Tennessee sitting at +140. The over/under is set at 128.5.
It is hard to imagine we would have seen a March Madness spread between these two teams set this way back in January, when the Volunteers looked like one of the best teams in the country and the Blue Devils were struggling to find its identity. But now, the Blue Devils and Vols are trending in two opposite directions.
The Volunteers limped their way to the SEC Conference Tournament after finishing the regular season losing three of its last five. The Vols were bounced in the second round by Missouri and nearly lost to a No. 13 seed Louisiana-Lafayette squad on Thursday, eventually winning 58-55. Head coach Rick Barnes pointed to turnovers as an area Tennessee needs to improve before their second-round matchup.
“We can’t trip over our own feet. We can’t throw the ball to the guys that aren’t looking. It goes back to simple execution. Just instead of trying to get cute on some sets, just call whatever we call, just execute it. It’s really simple,” Barnes said, per 247 Sports.
For Duke, they will be hoping to keep the same level of focus and intensity they have portrayed for the better part of the last month. The Blue Devils come into the matchup against the Volunteers having won their past 10 games, including winning the ACC Conference Tournament. During that time, freshmen forward Kyle Filipowski has blossomed into one of the best and most reliable scorers in the country. But it was junior guard Jeremy Roach who led the way with 23 points in a dominant 74-51 win over Oral Roberts in the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s a new season now,” Roach said, per CBS Sports. “We wanted to lock in on Oral Roberts, and we did a good job and made it as tough as we could for them. Now we’ve got to lock in on Saturday and take it one game at a time.”
Duke is definitely the more confident and dangerous group entering the matchup against Tennessee, and the latest Tennessee-Duke betting odds & spread show just that. You can expect a close game between these two great programs, in what just may be the biggest matchup of the first weekend.
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