The No.16-seeded Robert Morris Colonials square off against the No.1-seeded Duke Blue Devils in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Time Warner Cable Arena. The game gets underway at 7:10 pm ET on Friday, Mar. 20 and will air on CBS.
The Blue Devils lost to Notre Dame 74-64 the last time they played. Jahlil Okafor was the game’s high scorer, finishing with 28. The Colonials, meanwhile, are coming off an 81-77 win over North Florida in the first round. Rodney Pryor shot 9-for-20 and led in scoring with 22 points.
Over the last five games, Pryor has been on fire for the Colonials. During that stretch, he has averaged 23.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.2 steals, and 3.8 three-pointers.
The Blue Devils could own the offensive glass in this matchup, as they rank 19th in the nation in OR% at 37.4%. Conversely, Robert Morris places 333rd in the nation on the defensive backboards with a DR% of 64.6%.
Oddsmakers have deemed this game an even matchup and the Over/Under (O/U) is presently unavailable. The Blue Devils look to build on their records of 29-4 Straight Up (SU) and 18-14-1 Against The Spread (ATS). The Blue Devils are a dangerously accurate shooting team with a .504 field-goal percentage, one of the highest marks in Division I. Duke has an edge in the rebounding department for this game, where they rack up an average of 37.4 rebounds per game. Few teams in the nation have a higher assist-to-turnover ratio than Duke, which ranks 12th at 1.40.
Across the court, the Colonials head into the game with records of 6-3 ATS and 20-14 SU. In the last 10 games, Robert Morris has an 8-2 SU record, but have played well with a perfect record ATS (3-0).
Duke and Robert Morris have not played one another in a regular season matchup in recent years.
Predictions: SU Winner – DUKE, ATS Winner – DUKE
Notes
Ranked third, the Duke Blue Devils have an offensive rating of 120.9. The Robert Morris Colonials, on the other hand, rank 200th with a defensive rating of 204.4.
The Robert Morris Colonials average 67.4 possessions per game and 1.016 points per possession. The Duke Blue Devils earn fewer possessions with 67.1, but they score more points with 1.209.
Duke has the fourth-ranked average effective field goal percentage at 57.2%. Robert Morris is a losing 1-3 when opponents have a similar or higher effective field goal percentage.
The Duke Blue Devils rank 19th in assists per game with an average of 15.7. The Robert Morris Colonials are among the worst in the country with 12.1 assists per game (ranked 214th).
Duke, the 40th-ranked team in rebounding, register an average of 37.4 rebounds per game. Robert Morris does worse, ranked 210th with 33.6.
Robert Morris ranks 184th in offensive rebounds, while Duke ranks at 52nd in defensive rebounds.
On average, Duke forces a turnover rate of 29.6%. When Robert Morris turns over the ball at a similar or higher rate, the team has a winning 2-1 record.
