In a rematch of the 2022 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, the Duke Blue Devils go on the road to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in the ACC-SEC Challenge on Wednesday.
Duke Blue Devils (-7, 149) vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
It has taken some times for Arkansas to find the lineups and rotations they want to use, which has become the norm for Arkansas over the past two seasons.
Trying to find the identity of this iteration of Arkansas basketball has led to losses in three of their past four games, but has led to them finding out how much depth this team has with currently having nine separate players averaging more than 14 minutes per game along with a primary scorer in Tramon Mark, who enters averaging 18.4 points per game on 40% 3-point shooting.
In terms of offensive and defensive efficiency stats, Duke has been the better team to this point, but their loss earlier in the season may lead to the saying of “speed kills” being the case in this game.
The only team Duke has faced this season that entered Tuesday that is fast than 180th in the nation in possessions per game is Arizona, who went into Cameron Indoor and got a 78-73 road win.
Arkansas entered Tuesday 34th in the country in tot possessions per game and making opponents get physical, ranking 10th in the country in the amount of free throws they attempt per field goal they shoot.
While Duke has not taken the losses that Arkansas has to cause for worry, the team is coming off of trail at home at halftime against Southern Indiana as a 37-point favorite before restoring order in the second half.
The uptempo and physical brand of basketball will bother a Duke team that is not used to it and lead to Arkansas getting revenge for their loss in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
The Play: Arkansas +7
