Louisville basketball travels to Durham today to face the No. 5 Duke Blue Devils in a massive ACC showdown. With the Cardinals winning two straight and getting Mikel Brown Jr. back, and Duke being 7-0 in ACC play, these two are looking like the two best teams in the conference that many projected.
The two played each other earlier this month at the KFC Yum! Center, where the Cardinals got off to a hot start and went up by 12 points in the first half. Louisville was leading by nine heading into the locker room and feeling good, but an epic second-half collapse cost the Cards the huge win, and they lost 84-73.
Now, Louisville will play Duke inside Cameron Indoor Stadium this evening at 7 p.m. local time. With tip-off just hours away, here are the final odds and a prediction.
Louisville basketball vs Duke odds
Odds courtesy of FanDuel, and as of 6 am ET on Monday, Jan. 26
Spread: Duke -7.5
Moneyline: Duke -315 Louisville +250
Over/Under: 157.5
Prediction
The Cardinals have a lot of momentum and confidence heading into this marquee showdown, having won two straight games by an average of 27.5 points. Brown wasn’t on the injury report, so the former 5-star is set to play in his second straight game, giving this Cardinals team a huge boost.
Louisville missed his ability to run point in the second half in the last game, as the Cards were flustered on offense and couldn’t generate much. Louisville will have to find a way to slow down Cameron Boozer, who they saw can take over a game at any point, as he scored 27 points on 83.3 percent shooting from the field while adding eight rebounds and four assists.
Hopefully, with Brown back, he can slow down Isaiah Evans, who scored 23 points, including four 3-pointers, and was a big reason Duke dominated the second half. The Cardinals are given just a 22.7 percent chance of winning this game per ESPN Analytics, and while we think that is quite disrespectful, we are going to predict Duke to come out on top.
Kelsey’s has a 4-9 record against ranked teams and a 0-3 record against Duke. The Cards will keep this one close with Brown playing, but with it being a long travel day for Louisville, and in the tough environment, we predict the Blue Devils to come out on top by six.
Prediction: Duke 83 Louisville 77