Bruins vs Blue Devils College Basketball Lines
The unranked 9-1 UCLA Bruins look for a little respect as they play the number 8 ranked Duke Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden on ESPN.
UCLA Bruins (9-1) vs Duke Blue Devils (8-2)
When: Thursday, December 19th, 2013, 7:30 PM ET
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Broadcast: ESPN
Spread: Duke Blue Devils -3
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On December 7th, the then ranked number 18 UCLA Bruins took on the unranked Mizzouri Tigers on the road. After getting off to a hot start in that game, the Bruins struggled in the second half. At halftime, the Bruins were up by 8, but the end result was the Missouri Tigers winning by 9. Led by a 45 point effort and shutting down UCLA to only 28 points in the second half.
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It was UCLA’s first real test of the season and they didn’t really pass. Again, they had a good first half, but a terrible second half. Which cost the Bruins the game and their ranking. Now, UCLA can redeem themselves a bit by taking on the Duke Blue Devils on a neutral arena in the Madison Square Garden.
For Duke, this will be their 4 or 5th big test already in the early season. Duke played the Kansas Jayhawks for their second game and got beat. They got beat by 11, but 5 games later they played the Alabama Crimson Tide and Duke beat them.
Now, granted, you can decide for yourself whether or not Alabama is a notable team, but Duke were only -9 point favorites going into that game, and the Blue Devils did cover.
Two days later on November 29th, Duke went to New York to play the Arizona Wildcats and they came up short losing 72-66. But, they bounced back at home versus the then number 22 ranked Michigan Wolverines and beat them by 10.
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Players to watch: This game features two of the higher scoring players in college basketball. Super freshman forward Jabari Parker is tied for 15th in all of college basketball at 22.0 points per game. And UCLA sophomore guard Jordan Adams is scoring at a 21.2 points per game clip which is good for 22nd in college basketball.
Going back to Jabari Parker, he also leads his team in rebounds with 7.6 rebounds per game. Sophomore forward Rodney Hood is second on Duke with 18.9 points per game and junior guard Quinn Cook is third with 14.7 points per game.
For UCLA, freshman guard Zach LaVine is second on the team with 13.8 points per game, and sophomore Kyle Anderson does a little bit of everything on the Bruins. He’s scoring 13.8 points per game, pulling down 8.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists a game. Anderson leads his team in both rebounds and assists.
Danny’s FREE College Basketball Pick:
All in all, it’s another interesting early college basketball game. Just as a note, this year has been fantastic with all these good/great teams all facing each other. It’s been very exciting to watch.
Now, back to my pick, I believe the best pick is Duke at -3. Duke is more battle tested so far and I believe they are the more talented team of the two. UCLA hasn’t really been tested yet, and the only game that they were tested in, they ended up losing. So, give me the tested Duke Blue Devils at -3.
Pick: Duke Blue Devils -3
