Louisville vs. Duke Odds, Predictions & Picks for Monday, January 26

The No. 23 Louisville Cardinals meet the No. 5 Duke Blue Devils in ACC play tonight at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Louisville (14-5 SU, 11-8 ATS) is coming off an 85-71 win over Virginia Tech. Duke (18-1, SU, 11-8 ATS) leads the ACC standings with a perfect 9-0 record in conference play.

DraftKings is dealing Duke as an 8.5-point favorite (-105) with a total of 157.5 as of publication. 60% of spread handle and 68% of tickets are on the Blue Devils.

Best Bet Louisville vs. Duke: Against the Spread

Cardinals +8.5 (-115 at DraftKings)

Louisville star point guard Mikel Brown Jr. is back after missing eight games due to a lower back injury. How critical is Brown to the Cardinals’ success? Louisville started the season 9-1, and then lost five of its next eight contests with Brown missing all but one of those. One of those non-Brown losses came at the hands of Duke, 84-73, at the KFC YUM! Center in Louisville.

Brown orchestrates the offense for Louisville, which isn’t shy about shooting 3s in abundance. The Cardinals average 33.8 attempts per game from behind the arc, ranking second nationally behind only Alabama.

Also keep an eye on Xavier transfer Ryan Conwell, who has made at least three 3-pointers in 11 of his last 12 games.

Duke’s Cameron Boozer is widely regarded as the top player in the country. The 6-foot-9 freshman forward leads the nation with 23.7 points per game. He also leads the Blue Devils in rebounds (9.9 rpg), assists (4.1 apg), and steals (1.9 spg).

Louisville junior center Sananda Fru will primarily be tasked with checking Boozer down low. At 6-foot-11, Fru has the size and athleticism to make Boozer’s life more difficult tonight.

The key tonight for Louisville, as it usually is, will be knocking down shots from beyond the perimeter. Duke has struggled defending the 3-point shot at times this season, allowing opponents to shoot 31.1% from beyond the arc, ranking 63rd in the nation.

Head coach Jon Scheyer said Duke’s defense simply wasn’t good enough heading into the first game against Louisville. The Cardinals raced out to a 47-38 halftime lead in that game, forcing the Blue Devils to come from behind.

Brown’s availability should be a huge lift tonight, and the Cardinals +8.5 are the play.

Best Player Prop for Louisville Cardinals

Mikel Brown OVER 15.5 Points (-130 at DraftKings)

Brown averages 16.9 ppg. In his return to the lineup against Virginia Tech, he showed little rust with 20 points, six assists, and three rebounds.

In his only game against a top-10 team this season, Brown stepped up big against in-state rival Kentucky with 29 points. He was 3-of-10 on 3-point attempts and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line.

Best Player Prop for Duke Blue Devils

Cameron Boozer OVER 24.5 Points (+102 at FanDuel)

Always compare odds at different books. Case in point: DraftKings was offering -105 odds on this prop. Boozer had 27 points in the first meeting against Louisville.

He’s coming off a 32-point effort in Saturday’s win over Wake Forest. Boozer is borderline unstoppable in the paint. Expect him to fill it up again tonight.