Wake Forest vs Duke College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 2/17/21

The Duke Blue Devils and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons meet in college basketball action from the Lawrence Joel Coliseum on Wednesday night.

The Duke Blue Devils will look to build off of a 69-53 win over NC State in their last matchup. Matthew Hurt leads the Blue Devils in scoring and rebounding with 18.1 PPG and 6.5 RPG while DJ Steward has 13 PPG as the lone pair of double-digit scorers for Duke heading into this matchup. Wendell Moore Jr. has 9.6 PPG and Jeremy Roach also has 9.3 PPG with 2.6 APG for the Blue Devils this season. As a team, Duke is averaging 75.6 PPG on 46.3% shooting from the field, 35.1% from 3-point range and 71.4% from the foul line while giving up 72.3 PPG on 46.8% shooting from the field and 38.3% from 3-point range this season.

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons will look to rebound from a 92-85 loss to Florida State in their last matchup. Ian Dubose leads Wake Forest in scoring and assists with 14.3 PPG and 4.3 APG along with 2 steals per game while Daivien Williamson has 12.7 PPg and Tariq Ingraham has 11 PPG for Wake Forest. Isaiah Mucius has 10.3 PPG with 5.3 RPG to cap off the scoring in double figures for Wake so far this season while Ody Oguama has 9.3 PPG and a team-high 6.1 RPG this year for the Deacs. As a team, Wake Forest is averaging 70.3 PPG on 43.1% shooting from the field, 36.1% from 3-point range and 73.4% from the foul line while allowing 70 PPG on 45% shooting from the field and 35.7% from 3-point range this season.

Duke is 4-12 ATS in their last 16 games overall and 2-9 ATS in their last 11 road games while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games against a team with a losing record. Wake Forest is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall and 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games as a home underdog while the over is 16-5 in their last 21 home games.

I get the case that you could make for Wake Forest and the points as the Dukies have been far from convincing for much of the year. However, Wake Forest is still not a team I’m looking to back long term and the 10-4 record for the Demon Deacons ATS is a product of normally getting a lot more points than this. Duke took it to NC State last time out and maybe that’s a sign of an attempt at Duke turning things around and making a tournament push down the stretch but if that’s going to happen, they can ill afford to have a loss or a narrow win against Wake Forest. I look for Duke to replicate some of their success from the win over NC State and to pick up a win and cover in this one.

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