No. 18 Duke Hosts Florida State
Jabari Parker and Duke will look to build on a 27-game home winning streak.
Having picked up its first true road win of the season Wednesday, No. 18 Duke will now look to keep its unbeaten home streak alive as the team plays host to Florida State Saturday lunchtime.
Tip-off at Cameron Indoor Stadium is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET.
After a pair of road losses to open league play, Duke (15-4, 4-2 ACC) finally picked up the road win it had been looking for Wednesday, soundly defeating Miami 67-46 in Coral Gables, Fla.
Mike Krzyzewski’s side now returns home briefly before once more hitting the road for huge games in Pittsburgh (Mon.) and Syracuse (Sat.).
Looking past Saturday’s opponent to those headline clashes would be a huge mistake though.
Florida State (13-5, 4-2 ACC) has begun the season strongly, and enter Saturday’s game as winners of four of the last five.
The Seminoles got a late win over Notre Dame on Tuesday, riding Ian Miller’s two-point shot with four seconds left to a 76-74 victory in Tallahassee, Fla. Leonard Hamilton’s side will now look to ride that momentum to a victory in front of the Cameron Crazies.
The Seminoles two ACC losses came against Virginia, a team Duke narrowly defeated two weeks ago. The Blue Devils appear to have ridden out a rocky start to the season, collecting three wins in a row to move to 4-2 within the conference.
Rodney Hood and Jabari Parker each found their way into the midseason Wooden Award Top 25 this week. Both have been influential in helping the Blue Devils get back to winning ways.
Parker is averaging 18.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game to lead the team in both categories. The freshman made headlines this week when his father reportedly said his son would not be entering the 2014 NBA Draft. That’s good news for Coach K. Not so good news for NBA GMs.
Hood is second on the team with 17.6 points.
The Blue Devils will have a huge advantage heading into Saturday’s game.
Duke currently owns the nation’s longest home winning streak having strung together 27 straight wins in Durham, N.C.
The team hasn’t lost at home since March 3, 2012, when North Carolina won 88-70 in the regular season finale. Can Florida State pull off the upset?
Florida State Seminoles vs. Duke Blue Devils odds for 01/25/2014
Thanks to its impressive home winning streak, Duke opened as the favorite over Florida State.
The Blue Devils have won two straight against the Seminoles and taken seven of the last nine. Go back a bit further and you’ll see Coach K’s side has won 18 of the last 25. In fact, since 1979 Duke is 31-9 against Florida State.
At Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke has won 13 of the last 16 head-to-head matchups. However, Florida State’s last win in the building came just two games ago on January 21, 2012. The Seminoles won that game 76-73 on Michael Snaer’s 3-pointer as time expired.
The spread opened at eight in favor of the home side.
Florida State (11-5-0 ATS) and Duke (11-8-0 ATS) have both fared well against the spread so far this season. The Seminoles are 6-2-0 ATS on the road while the Blue Devils are 10-5-0 ATS at home. The advantage may lie with the road team though.
Florida State is 12-6-0 ATS in its last 18 games against Duke, and 7-2-0 ATS in the last nine games played at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Around the Conference
No. 2 Syracuse (18-0, 5-0 ACC) will look to keep its undefeated streak alive with a trip to Miami (10-8, 2-4 ACC). The Orange is 14-5 all-time against the Hurricanes but will the fact that this is now a league game make a difference?
Virginia Tech (8-10, 1-5 ACC) and Virginia (14-5, 5-1 ACC) renew their rivalry Saturday afternoon. Can the Hokies earn a rare road win against the high-flying Cavaliers?
On Sunday, Clemson (13-5, 4-2 ACC) travels to North Carolina (11-7, 1-4 ACC) looking to snap an unthinkable 56-game losing streak. Since 1926, the Tigers are 0-56 when playing in Chapel Hill, N.C. Could this be the year?
Can K.J. McDaniels and Clemson snap a 0-56 record in Chapel Hill?
This Weekend’s ACC Schedule
All times ET
Saturday
12:00 Florida State at No. 18 Duke (matchup)
1:00 No. 2 Syracuse at Miami (FL) (matchup)
3:00 Notre Dame at Wake Forest (matchup)
3:00 Virginia Tech at Virginia (matchup)
6:00 No. 20 Pittsburgh at Maryland (matchup)
Sunday
1:00 Georgia Tech at North Carolina State (matchup)
6:00 Clemson at North Carolina (matchup)
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