Duke vs. Buffalo Prediction, Game Preview

The Duke Blue Devils will welcome the Buffalo Bulls to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday. Below is the Duke vs. Buffalo prediction and game preview.

Duke vs. Buffalo Game Preview

Game Broadcast

Date: Saturday, Dec. 5
Game Time: 5:15 p.m. ET
Venue: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, N.C.
Network: ESPN2

Why You Need To Care

Duke certainly wasn’t expecting to lose to Kentucky in its third game of the season, but since then it’s been nothing but Ws for Mike Krzyzewski, who surprisingly only has one in his name.

The Blue Devils have rattled off five straight wins, the latest of which being a 94-74 beatdown against Indiana on Wednesday to improve to 7-1.

Buffalo is just happy to be above .500 right now after losses to Old Dominion, St. Joseph’s and St. Bonaventure. The Bulls are 4-3 headed into a David-vs-Goliath matchup with Duke.

This might be target practice for the Blue Devils going into the weekend.

Why Duke Will Win

Grayson Allen has really come into his own this season. He had a decent year off the bench last season for Duke, but he’s the man now. Aside from an abysmal showing against Kentucky, Allen has shown out with 21.8 points per game. He’ll need to keep that up in this one. If Allen leads the attack, and Amile Jefferson tag teams the battle on the boards with Marshall Plumlee, the Blue Devils will pick up their eighth win of the season.

Why Buffalo Will Win

Head coach Nate Oats is going to have to find some pixie dust or a four-leaf clover for this one. But in all fairness, the Bulls absolutely have to get some extra points at the charity stripe. They’ve taken 193 free throws so far — 31st most in the nation. Buffalo might have to throw a double team at Allen to slow him down, forcing someone else to carry the load for Duke. Aside from that, chasing Matt Jones off the perimeter will be huge. Limit those two, and the Bulls could — emphasis on could — have a shot.

What’s Going To Happen?

Duke is going to hand the Bulls a big, fat loss. Allen will go off. Jones will wreck the Bulls from behind the arc. The Blue Devils will control the glass. Just about everything will go Duke’s way in this one, and Buffalo will fall back down to .500.