One of the biggest weeks of the year in college basketball — outside of March Madness, of course — kicked off with some big games on Monday night, and the action continues across the country on Tuesday night, with Duke among the top-ranked teams in action.
The Blue Devils host La Salle in a game oddsmakers do not expect to be close, but there’s still plenty to watch for between the ACC favorites and Fran Dunphy’s La Salle Explorers.
Tuesday’s game is Duke’s second of the four-team (Duke, La Salle, Bucknell, Southern Indiana), round-robin Blue Devil Challenge. The Devils beat Bucknell 90-60 in the first game of this event, which will conclude with Southern Indiana-Duke on Nov. 24.
Duke is a prohibitive favorite in this game at , and the total is . Below is everything you need to know about Tuesday night’s matchup, including our La Salle vs. Duke betting pick.
Here are our La Salle vs. Duke odds, picks, and predictions.
Read More: Best College Basketball Betting Sites | March Madness Odds | North Carolina sports betting
La Salle vs. Duke Odds: Spread, Moneyline, Over/Under
Before making your La Salle vs. Duke bet, we advise you to check out the odds and lines from our top-rated sports betting apps. Doing this will ensure that you get the best number for your bet.
La Salle Explorers (4-0, 3-1 ATS)
The Explorers are off to a good start in their second season under veteran head coach Fran Dunphy. The Philadelphia hoops icon had one of the most successful coaching tenures in Ivy League history at Penn from 1989-2006, winning 10 Ivy League championships. Dunphy later coached Temple from 2006-2019, and he was hired by La Salle before the ’22-23 campaign. Last year’s La Salle squad went 15-19 (7-11 Atlantic 10). This year’s team has started strong, with four wins, but those opponents came from the CAA, Patriot League, and Ohio Valley Conference.
La Salle appears overmatched against the No. 9 Blue Devils (for one thing, it’s hard to see the undersized Explorers having an answer for 7-footer Kyle Filipowski), but La Salle does feature one scorer who could give Duke trouble: guard Khalil Brantley, who is averaging 17.5 points per game.
Duke Blue Devils (3-1, 2-2 ATS)
Duke entered this season with high expectations, and they’ve lived up to them so far. The Devils already have a home loss, but that result against No. 3 Arizona on Nov. 10 doesn’t change coach Jon Scheyer‘s team’s outlook. If anything, the collective impression fans should have after watching Duke take down Michigan State just four days later is that this team is absolutely legit. By the time conference play starts, Duke will have faced Arizona, Michigan State, Arkansas, and Baylor, who are all expected to contend for a title in their respective conferences.
The Devils blew out Bucknell 90-60 in their last game, and their matchup with La Salle looks like another lopsided contest. La Salle beat Bucknell 69-57 last week, an indication that Dunphy’s team could put up a better fight than the Bison. Still, it’s hard to see La Salle staying in this one for 40 minutes.
La Salle vs. Duke Prediction: Can Blue Devils Cover?
The question in this one is how long the Explorers can hang around in one of the toughest gyms in the country. Dunphy’s team is off to a solid start, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if they play well early, but eventually, Duke’s size and athleticism will allow it to pull away. Games with spreads this big are always hard to call, so consider taking the Over. Duke scored 90 or more in its two previous games against teams with similar profiles, making it easy to see the total getting to around 150.
La Salle vs. Duke pick: Over (144.5 at time of publishing)
How To Watch La Salle vs. Duke
- Date: Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023
- Tipoff: 7:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium — Durham, NC
- Where to Watch: ACC Network
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