Arkansas Razorbacks vs Duke Blue Devils Betting Preview

The battle for the West region will take place Saturday night as the No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks (28-8) square off with the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils (31-6) in an Elite Eight matchup. This game will be played at the Chase Center, with tipoff scheduled for 8:49 pm ET.
After coming up short in the SEC tournament, Arkansas has been on a roll through the first three rounds of the NCAA tourney. On Thursday, Arkansas was able to take down the top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs 74-68.
In the win, JD Notae had a team-high 21 points to go along with six rebounds and six assists. Jaylin Williams had a double-double with 15 points and 12 boards.
Like Arkansas, Duke was not able to win their conference tourney as they lost to Virginia Tech in the ACC championship. Since then, Duke has won three in a row, including a 78-73 win over No. 3 Texas Tech in the Sweet 16.
Paolo Banchero had a game-high 22 points and was one of five Blue Devils who had double-digit points. The next highest was Mark Williams, who had 16 points and eight rebounds.
Duke is the favorite in this one. They are -164 to win while the Razorbacks’ moneyline sits at +136. The spread features Arkansas +4, and the over/under for total points is 146.5.
By The Numbers
Duke has one of the best offenses in the nation. They rank sixth in scoring averaging 80.2 points per game. The Razorbacks rank 37th, averaging 76.1 points.
Defensively, it is again Duke with the advantage. They rank 111th in the nation in scoring defense allowing opponents 67.4 points per game. Arkansas ranks 128th allowing 68 points.
Arkansas Looks For Another Upset
If you take out a stretch from mid-December to early January, where the Razorbacks lost five out of six games, this team has been one of the best in the nation all season. Offensively, they like to play at an up-tempo pace and will look to use that to pull off another upset against the No. 2 Blue Devils.
Arkansas offense is led by senior guard JD Notae. He leads the team averaging 18.5 points per game despite shooting just 39.7 percent from the field. He is also averaging 4.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.3 steals per game.
Other contributors for the Razorbacks include Stanley Umude (11.8 points, 4.7 rebounds), Jaylin Williams (10.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists), and Au’Diese Toney (10.7 points, 5.3 rebounds).
Duke Looking To Extend Coach K’s Run
After 42 seasons, head coach Mike Krzyzewski will be retiring at the end of the season. For the Duke Blue Devils, they would like to postpone that retirement for at least another week.
On Saturday, they will look to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 2015, when they won it all with a national championship win over Wisconsin.
Leading Duke’s high-flying offense is freshman phenom Paolo Banchero. This season, he is averaging 17.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.1 steals per game.
On a team filled with NBA prospects, the Blue Devils have four others averaging double digits, including Wendell Moore Jr (13.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists), Trevor Keels (11.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists), Mark Williams (11.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.9 blocks), and AJ Griffin (10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds).
Take Duke To Win
Arkansas showed on Thursday that they can play with anyone in the nation after toppling top-seeded Gonzaga. Still, this will be a tough matchup for the Razorbacks.
Not only does Duke have superstar-level talent in Paolo Banchero, but they are just incredibly deep on the offensive side. In his final season, coach Mike Krzyzewski has put together an all-star cast that seems to be clicking at the right time.
Both of these teams like to put points up in bunches, but Duke just has the talent to be a bit more effective at it.
Like all teams that rely on young talent (they start three freshmen), they can be inconsistent at times but expect Duke to still give Arkansas everything they can handle and more on Saturday.
Arkansas has the ability to keep this one close throughout, but expect Duke to pull away at the end. Take Duke to win straight up, and don’t be surprised if they cover the modest four-point spread.