North Dakota State vs Duke 3/22/19 - NCAA Tournament Picks & Predictions

Last Updated: 08/21/2019 at 11:11 AM ET

On Friday, the No. 16 seeded North Dakota State Bison will face the No. 1 seeded Duke Blue Devils in an NCAA Tournament East Region first round matchup at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. The Bison reached this game after defeating North Carolina Central in its First Four matchup up Wednesday 78-74. Tyson Ward led the Bison with 23 points.

Duke enters this NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed and is favored by odds makers at 2 to 1 to win the national championship. The Blue Devils defeated the Florida State Seminoles 73-63 in the ACC Championship game in their most recent outing on Sunday. Zion Williamson led the Blue Devils to the win with 21 points.
Vinnie Shahid leads the Bison in scoring with an average of 12.8 points per game. Tyson Ward is the second leading scorer and leading rebounder with averages of 12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Shahid leads the team in assists with an average of 2.7 per game. The Bison are shooting 45.6% from the field and 36.6% from 3-point territory.

RJ Barrett leads Duke in scoring and is second in assists with averages of 22.9 points and 4.1 assists per game. Zion Williamson is the second leading scorer and leading rebounder with averages of 22.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Tre Jones leads the Blue Devils in assists with an average of 5.3 per game. Duke is shooting 47.7% from the field and 30.2% from 3-point territory.

Duke will easily win this matchup, but the only question is will the Blue Devils concentrate long enough to cover a big double-digit spread. With RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson leading the way, Duke will move on to round 2, but the Bison will remain close enough to cover the spread with Tyson Ward keeping it respectable. Final Score Prediction, Duke Blue Devils win but fall short ATS 85-61.

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