Wednesday night was a glum night for fans of the big two teams in the state of North Carolina, as both the Tarheels and Duke lost their respective games. The Blue Devils are in a dangerous spot on Saturday too, and face the legitimate chance of losing bac

2010-01-22

Wednesday night was a glum night for fans of the big two teams in the state of North Carolina, as both the Tarheels and Duke lost their respective games. The Blue Devils are in a dangerous spot on Saturday too, and face the legitimate chance of losing back-to-back games for the first time this season. The trip to Clemson will not be easy for the Blue Devils, as the Tigers own a 19-point home win over UNC a couple weeks back and will be hungry for the upset here in front of a primetime national TV audience. Get the latest price on this key contest on the Sportsbook.com LIVE ODDS page.

You can bet that coach Mike Krzyzewski has worked Duke extra hard in preparation for this prime time affair at Clemson. Coach K remembers firsthand how the Tigers can play at Littlejohn Coliseum, losing 74-47 there last year. He’s also seen what Clemson did to North Carolina, building 20-point lead in the first eight minutes of the game and cruising to a victory over the Tar Heels. That is why the play of guard Jon Scheyer is so critical, keeping Duke (15-3, 11-6 ATS) from playing at too frenzied of a pace. The Dukies are 8-19 ATS in road games vs. clubs outscoring their opponents by 12 or more points a game after 15 or more games. In other words, this is a team that stumbles in big late season road games.

Backed with its home crowd, the Tigers’ memories are fresh from being embarrassed at Duke on Jan. 3, losing 74-53, totaling just 12 points in the first 20 minutes. Senior forward Trevor Booker is the energy of this team and its most important player. When Clemson (15-4, 9-7 ATS) has to set up offense, allowing Booker to at least touch the ball, good things usually follow. He’s skilled around the basket and finds open shooters off the bounce. Unquestionably, the Tigers play better at home and they are 21-10 ATS when they force 14 to 18 turnovers, making it paramount to force Duke into mistakes.

Duke is off an upset loss at N.C. State and looks for quick turnaround victory, since they are 5-0 and 4-1 ATS after a spread loss in lined games. Clemson is 9-1 and 6-1 ATS on their home floor and last year’s win at home was the first in ten tries vs. Duke, with 4-5-1 ATS record.

The StatFox Power Line shows Duke by 3, but this is how StatFox’s Steve Makinen sees the game in the Platinum Sheet: The ESPN Game Day crew will be on hand for Saturday’s showdown between Duke and Clemson, and the Tigers should be jacked for the occasion. Typically I don’t overrate this particular aspect unless I believe the team is capable of pulling the big upset with another slight motivational edge. Clemson is capable of doing it. The Tigers have been absolutely dominant at home, going 9-1 SU & 6-1 ATS while outscoring opponents by 22 PPG. They own a 19-point decision over North Carolina at home a week ago. Clemson will also be motivated by the fact that their own field goal shooting didn’t make the recent trip to Durham when Duke blasted them by 21 points. It was easily the Tigers’ worst outing of the year and they will be hungry to make amends. This one should be all it gets cracked up to be. Play: Clemson

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