The Duke Blue Devils take on the Clemson Tigers in Clemson, SC. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Duke is favored by 7.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -298. The total is set at 134.5 points.
Here are my Duke vs. Clemson predictions and college basketball picks for February 8, 2025.
Duke vs Clemson Prediction
My Pick: Clemson +7.5 (Play to +6.5)
My Duke vs Clemson best bet is on the Tigers spread, with the best odds currently available at DraftKings. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Duke vs Clemson Odds
| Duke Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-7.5 -110 | 134.5 -110o / -110u | -298 |
| Clemson Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+7.5 -110 | 134.5 -110o / -110u | +240 |
- Duke vs Clemson spread: Duke -7.5
- Duke vs Clemson over/under: 134.5 points
- Duke vs Clemson moneyline: Duke -298, Clemson +240
- Duke vs Clemson best bet: Clemson +7.5 (Play to +6.5)
Spread
I'm taking the Tigers to cover as underdogs.
Moneyline
I'm passing on the moneyline.
Over/Under
I have no play on the total for this game.
My Pick: Clemson +7.5 (Play to +6.5)
Duke vs Clemson College Basketball Betting Preview
An ACC heavyweight bout takes place Saturday night at Little John Coliseum.
Duke, the great and powerful, enters on a 16-game winning streak with a perfect conference record. Clemson sits at 10-2 in the ACC; a win pulls itself within one game of Duke for the league lead and another step closer to the NCAA Tournament.
With few quality wins available in the ACC this season, a victory against Duke would be enormous for Clemson’s postseason hopes.
But how do you stop the unstoppable? Duke is arguably the best team in the country, and it may not even be arguable the closer we get to March.
The Blue Devils are the only squad currently ranked inside the top five on both offense and defense in KenPom, and only one other team in the country is top-10 on both ends.
They're the biggest team in college basketball, and they're the most talented team in college basketball.
They have Cooper Flagg, who's been everything promised and more, with a Wooden Award likely to be added to his ever-growing trophy case.
Clemson is very good, but the Tigers are just 1-1 against KenPom's top-40 teams this season and 2-3 against the top 50. Duke is by far the best team the Tigers have faced all year.
Duke’s offense is nuts. The Blue Devils don’t even use a true point guard most of the time and still score at one of the most efficient rates in the land.
The key is Flagg, who has insane gravity because he can score from anywhere. He’s surrounded by shooters and lob threats and is a gifted passer. If you play him one-on-one, he'll score. If you over-help, he'll punish you by finding an open shooter or dunker.
Clemson will need to make a decision on who to stick on Flagg (Chauncey Wiggins? Ian Schieffelin?) and how to send help/defend his off-ball teammates. The Tigers do have size, and they’re old and physical – but the talent gap is massive compared to the NBA-light Blue Devils.
Look for Brad Brownell to throw some full-court pressure to upset the point guard-less Blue Devils and have Jaeden Zackery and the Hunter brothers harass ball handlers.
Home court is Clemson’s best chance for an outright win on Saturday. The hype and the vibes will be immaculate inside Little John, which has been a mini House of Horrors for Duke over the years. Clemson beat Duke on this floor in 2023, 2020 and 2016, and Jon Scheyer is 0-1 at Little John over his short head coaching career.
The Tigers must catch fire to keep pace with Duke, and they certainly have the shooting to do it. Brownell can go five-out most of the game, with Viktor Lakhin and Schieffelin able to hit from deep.
Wiggins and Chase Hunter have also been money from deep this season.
Duke has plenty of versatile forwards it can use to stick with Clemson’s inverted bigs on the arc, but it'll still be a bit of a different look than the Blue Devils are used to seeing.
Brownell won’t invert his bigs all game, as he loves playing through the post, particularly through Lakhin and Schieffelin.
Unfortunately for Clemson, Duke defends the post at a high level and ranks in the top 30 in both field goal attempt rate allowed and field goal percentage allowed at the rim this season.
The Blue Devils are No. 1 in the ACC in 2-point field goal percentage allowed and have made scoring in the paint against them a living hell (pun semi-intended).
Clemson point guard Chase Hunter will be key in this one. He's supremely underrated and the leader of this Tigers team. As he goes, so does Clemson, especially on Saturday.
His experience should help him maintain poise and serve as the compass for his teammates in their biggest game of the year. Duke has a ton of size to throw on Hunter — Sion James and Tyrese Proctor included — but Hunter can still find a way to be productive against the bigger defenders.
With Duke’s length, Clemson simply must shoot well from deep.
The Tigers must also keep their composure and hope the crowd can help propel them to an early lead.
Perhaps punching Duke in the mouth in the first half will rattle a younger team not used to playing from behind. It's college basketball after all, and the court is begging to be stormed.
