Tulsa Golden Hurricane at Duke Blue Devils Betting Odds

Opening Line: Tulsa +18 / Duke -18 O/U 142

Time: 7 PM EST Thursday February 25, 2010 on ESPN2

Tonight in a non-conference match up the 5th ranked Duke Blue Devils host the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. At the beginning of February it looked as if Tulsa would be going to the Big Dance, but they have lost 4 of their last 5 games and are in 5th place in Conference USA. Even though Tulsa has 19 wins their only chance to make the NCAA tournament may be to beat Duke in this game.

The chips are stacked against Tulsa, as Duke is not only undefeated at home this season, but they have not lost at Cameron Indoor Stadium to a non-conference opponents since 2000, which is a span of 77 games.

Duke has won 6 games in a row and they are in 1st place in the ACC with a slim 1 game lead over Maryland. If the Blue Devils finish the season well and go far in their conference tournament they have a good shot to get a coveted #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

This season Duke is 16-0 at home and is 16-8-2 ATS and Tulsa is only 4-5 on the road and 7-16-1 ATS.

In their last games Duke beat Virginia Tech 67-55 on Sunday while Tulsa lost to UTEP 78-70 on Saturday.

Tulsa has a solid inside-outside game with 2 guards and a C averaging in double figures led by G Ben Uzoh (16.1 ppg).

7-foot C Jerome Jordan (15.2 ppg 8.6 rpg) is the key tonight, as he has to play solid on both ends of the court. Even though Tulsa has struggled lately Jordan has played well, as he has averaged 17 ppg on 57.1% shooting in his last games and this season he leads Conference USA is FG% (55.3%).

Duke is led by their great backcourt duo of guards Jon Scheyer (18.9 ppg) and Nolan Smith (17.9 ppg).

The Blue Devils also have F Kyle Singler (16.9 ppg 7.3 rpg), who has 2 double-doubles in his last 2 games and has averaged 19.7 ppg and 7.3 rpg during Duke's 6-game win streak.

Tulsa does have a good defense only allowing an average of 64.3 ppg, but they will have to play stellar tonight against Duke offense that is averaging 80 ppg. However, even though Duke did win their last game they only shot 29% from the field.

Tulsa is 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games, 0-4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games, and has an Under record of 6-0 in their last 6 road games.

Duke is 2-0-2 ATS in their last 4 games, is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as a favorite of 13 points or more, and has an Under record of 5-2 in their last 7 home games.

Our Selection : The Golden Hurricanes are stepping way up in class, but can't really see the Blue Devils running the score up against this non divisional foe. We'll take a shot on the big dog. Take Tulsa +19