Duke vs. Utah Prediction, Game Preview

The Duke Blue Devils will make the trip to New York, N.Y. to play the Utah Utes in Madison Square Garden. Below is the Duke vs. Utah prediction and game preview.

Duke vs. Utah Game Preview

Game Broadcast

Date: Saturday, Dec. 19
Game Time: 12 p.m. ET
Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y.
Network: ESPN

Why You Need To Care

The No. 7-ranked Blue Devils will be back in the “Big Apple” with a 9-1 record. Duke dropped one early on to the Kentucky Wildcats, 74-63, but it’s been nothing but win after win since then for head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

The Blue Devils have knocked out seven straight wins since losing to the Wildcats, and two of those wins (VCU and Georgetown) were in Madison Square Garden.

Utah enters at 8-2 looking to win back-to-back games after beating Savannah State by 46 points on Wednesday.

The Utes snuck a four-game winning streak between their two losses to Miami and Wichita State. They’ll face Duke for the fifth time in school history and the second time in two seasons. Duke and Utah met in the Sweet 16 last season.

Why Duke Will Win

The gut feeling says Brandon Ingram has finally arrived after dropping 20-plus points in his last three games, but let’s see if he can keep it going against a Utes team allowing opponents to shoot 42.4 percent from the field. Amile Jefferson has hit double figures in just two of his last six games, so he’ll need to get it going early to establish his presence down low. Aside from simply bodying up Jakob Poeltl and getting a hand up in his face, the Blue Devils just need to knock down jumpers off the screen-and-roll like they’ve been doing. Ingram and Grayson Allen need to shoot well to open up lanes to the rim.

Why Utah Will Win

The Utes need to feed the ball to Poeltl. Figure out a way. It doesn’t matter if you’re working a pick-and-roll. It doesn’t matter if you screen the screener. He can simply post up on the low or high block, but Utah needs to get him going to find a rhythm. Part of that will depend on how well Brandon Taylor can get into space and penetrate to open up passing lanes. On defense, Utah needs to go under on picks — switch if it has to. Allen, Ingram and Matt Jones can all be deadly from three, but they can also finish at the rim. It’s basically picking your poison.