A pair of Top 25 teams will mix it up at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Wednesday. The Baylor Bears will take on the Duke Blue Devils. Baylor comes into the game at 9-1 on the season, but coming off a blowout loss to Michigan State in their last game. The Bears are still ranked 10th in all of College Basketball.
For Duke, they come into the game ranked 21st with their 7-3 mark. The Blue Devils have won back to back games, including a 21 point win over Hofstra on Tuesday. The Blue Devils come into this game listed at -1.5. The total for this affair is at 156.
Duke Looking to Stay Streaking
The Duke Blue Devils will look to win their third straight game, following the back to back losses to Arkansas and Georgia Tech. In those two games, the Blue Devils scored just 71.5 points per game. Since then, Duke has scored 84.5 in their last two. The Blue Devils are led in scoring by Kyle Filipowski. The big man is scoring 18.4 points per game.
Tyrese Proctor is putting together a nice season for the Blue Devils. He is scoring 10.3 points per game, and dishing out more than 4 assists. Duke, as a team is scoring 81.6 points per game, and allowing opponents to score just 66.1 per game.
The Blue Devils will finish the 2023 portion of their schedule at home on December 30th against Queens. The Blue Devils then go on the road for back to back conference games at Notre Dame and Pittsburgh.
Baylor Seeking Bounce Back
Scott Drew and his Baylor Bears will look to get back on track after licking their wounds in a blowout loss to Michigan State. The loss was a tough one, considering it was their toughest test to date. The Baylor Bears best win coming into that game was over Florida by 4 or Auburn by 6 to start the season.
Baylor is led in scoring by Ja’Kobe Walter. The guard is playing 28 minutes per game, and scoring 14.3 points per game. RayJ Dennis is second, at 13.9 points per game, and dishing out 6.6 assists per game. The Bears are scoring 88.4 points per game, which ranks 9th in all of College Basketball.
The Bears will take on Mississippi Valley State and Cornell, before starting their rugged Big slate. The Bears will start the conference season on January 6th on the road at Oklahoma State. The first conference game for the Bears will be at home against Brigham Young on January 9th.
Bears over Blue Devils at the Garden
This should be a great show for the fans in New York City. A great Christmas present between two teams that are going to have a legitimate chance to reach the Final Four in March. In the end, we expect the Baylor Bears to bounce back in a big way.
They are none too pleased about the performance against the Spartans, and will play mad and aggressive. Look for the physical nature of the Bears to give the Blue Devils fits. Our betting pick for this game is the Baylor Bears over the Duke Blue Devils. Bet Baylor +1.5 to win this game!
