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A top-five college basketball showdown opens up Tuesday’s State Farm Champions Classic, as No. 2 Duke takes on No. 5 Michigan State in the Windy City.
Jon Scheyer and Duke are 2-0 after blowout wins over Army and Coastal Carolina at Cameron Indoor.
Tom Izzo and Michigan State also enter with an identical record, having opened the season with big wins over Quinnipiac and Toledo.
Oddsmakers have Duke as 6.5-point favorites, with the Over/Under penciled in at 149.5 total points.
Duke vs. Michigan State prediction
Replacing Cameron Boozer is no easy task, but Patrick Ngongba II and Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje form a frontcourt tandem that can lock down the paint against the Spartans.
Ngongba II is one of three returning starters for Duke and is listed at 6-foot-11.
He leads the team in scoring with 19 points per game and averages eight rebounds.
Boumtje Boumtje stands at 7-foot-2 and has recorded three blocks in each of Duke’s two games.
Although the sample size is small and the opponents have been relatively weak, the Blue Devils boast the nation’s top adjusted defensive efficiency (90.4), according to Bart Torvik.
Jeremy Fears Jr. continues to power the Spartans’ offensive attack, scoring 25 points alongside 20 assists through his first two contests.
Coen Carr and Kur Teng join Fears Jr. as two other double-digit scorers for a Michigan State team that has shot a respectable 40.4% from the 3-point range to start the season.
The Spartans’ route to an upset hangs on sinking timely shots from deep and pulling Duke’s towering lineup out to guard away from the basket.
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However, the Blue Devils’ depth includes Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell, Caleb Foster, and Cayden Boozer, all in the backcourt mix. Add defensive specialist Dame Sarr, another returning starter, and they have the perimeter flexibility to get stops.
If any squad possesses the grit to turn this into a physical grind and stay within striking distance, it is Izzo’s group. Yet, its 59.4% team free-throw shooting is alarming, and the Spartans face an uphill battle against Duke’s size inside, making laying the spread in favor of the Blue Devils a smart move.
The Play: Duke -6.5 (-110, DraftKings)
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