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The Virginia Tech Hokies have been costing their backers lots of cash at home and now the Duke Blue Devils are coming to town.
The Hokies are just 2-7 against the spread at home and they haven't covered there since they beat Boston College, 79-71 on January 17th as 3 ½-point favorites.
Things aren't going to get much easier on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm ET. That's when the #7 Duke Blue Devils show up in a game nationally televised on ABC.
You can get all the latest odds here for this contest and don't forget our $20.00 Free Play for New Mobile bettors. The first $20.00 wager you make through your mobile phone on any NCAAB or NBA Half-Time Line is Free.
The Hokies are a classic ‘bubble team' for the NCAA tournament at 17-10 overall and 7-6 in the conference. A win over Duke would look great on their resume, and they are hoping to build on the momentum of their last game at Clemson on Wednesday night.
Guard Malcolm Delaney had 26 points and swingman A.D. Vassallo added 21. Getting a road win against a ranked team like Clemson was a tremendous performance and quite stunning considering that power forward Jeff Allen was held to five points on 2-11 shooting.
The Hokies have a big problem with their offensive balance as no other player averages even five PPG besides their ‘Big 3'. That could haunt them in this game against a team that has multiple athletes in the starting five and off the bench.
Duke (23-5) is on a three-game winning streak and has covered the spread in the last two. Those covers were an impressive home win over Wake Forest and a road win at Maryland on Wednesday. Before that however, they drew the ire of bettors with an 0-5 ATS stretch. For the season, they Blue Devils are just 3-6 ATS on the road.
The turnaround for the Dukies has coincided with a change to the starting lineup. Senior guard Greg Paulus was sent back to the bench and replaced with freshman Elliot Williams.
Williams, a McDonald's All-American, has played more than 30 minutes in each of the last three wins and brings good height at 6'4" as well as great defensive pressure in the backcourt.
Duke still has a small starting lineup and they might struggle against big teams come tournament time, but that shouldn't be an issue against Virginia Tech.
Note that these teams met once already this year and it was a laugher, 69-44 at Duke. The Blue Devils even managed to cover the 17-point spread and while they won't be nearly as big of favorites this time around, the Hokies must play the game of their lives and hope to get a huge boost from the home crowd to have a chance.
