Saturday's Tip Sheet
By Brian Edwards
**Duke at UNLV**
-- For the first time in nearly a quarter-century, Duke and UNLV will meet Saturday at T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas. These storied programs haven’t faced each other since the 1991 national semifinals when Duke won a 79-77 decision over the previously-undefeated Runnin’ Rebels. Anderson Hunt’s brick at the buzzer was off the mark to give the Blue Devils the thrilling victory. Hunt had been put in a bad spot when Larry Johnson passed on an open jumper from the wing with five seconds remaining. Bobby Hurley’s pivotal 3-ball with just over a minute remaining was crucial, as it sliced UNLV’s five-point lead down to two. Jerry Tarkanian’s Rebels had run Duke out of Denver by a 103-73 count in the 1990 NCAA Tournament finals the year before.
-- As of late Friday afternoon, one offshore book had Duke (9-1 straight up, 5-4 against the spread) installed as a 20.5-point favorite.
-- Duke is playing its first true road game here, but it has played four neutral-court games outside of Durham already. The Blue Devils beat Florida 84-74 as seven-point favorites Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 158 combined points soared ‘over’ the 146.5-point total. Luke Kennard stole the show with a sensational performance that was reminiscent of the way fellow southpaw Chris Mullin used to light up MSG when he played for St. John’s in the mid-1980s. Kennard countered every UF run with one of his silky-smooth jumpers. The sophomore shooting guard knocked down 11-of-16 shots, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range, on his way to a game-high 29 points. Amile Jefferson added 24 points, 15 rebounds and two blocked shots. The senior power forward made 11-of-14 shots. Jayson Tatum, who was playing in just his second collegiate game, scored 22 points and pulled down eight boards.
-- Kennard is scoring a team-high 20.4 points per game. The lefty is making 52.2 percent of his shots from the field, 41.0 percent from beyond the arc and 88.1 percent from the free-throw line. Kennard is also averaging a 6.2 rebounds per game and has a 31/17 assists-to-turnovers ratio.
-- Grayson Allen is one of the team’s veterans. The junior, who played a key role in Duke’s win over Wisconsin in the finals of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, is scoring at a 15.9 PPG clip. He has been dealing with an ankle injury for a few weeks, but only missed one game. Allen has dealt out a team-high 36 assists compared to 18 turnovers. His shot has suffered as he’s making only 36.0 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from long distance.
-- Jefferson is averaging 15.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. He’s also rejecting 2.0 shots per game. Frank Jackson is also scoring in double figures (14.0 PPG).
-- Tatum and Marques Bolden missed the first eight games, but they’ve played in the last two outings. In only 14 minutes of playing time, Bolden has contributed seven points, five rebounds and one blocked shot. Harry Giles, who is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, still hasn’t touched the court. However, Mike Krzyzewski has indicated that he’ll likely make his season debut before Christmas. The likely target date is a Dec. 19 home game vs. Tennessee State.
-- Duke owns quality wins over Rhode Island, Michigan State, Florida and Penn State. With the exception of the win over the Spartans at Cameron Indoor Stadium, all of those wins were on neutral floors. The Blue Devils took their only loss to Kansas by a 77-75 count at MSG as 2.5-point favorites. Kennard had 22 points, five boards and five assists in the losing effort vs. KU.
-- UNLV (5-3 SU, 5-2 ATS) returned only three players from last season’s roster. The new head coach is Marvin Menzies, who was previously at New Mexico State. Menzies scored the job after one of the stranger coaching searches in recent college basketball history. First, UNLV courted Cincinnati’s Mic Cronin, who visited Las Vegas and was given royal treatment. According to AD Tina Kunzer-Murphy, Cronin verbally agreed to contract terms before leaving Vegas to go back to Cincinnati, where he signed a contract extension with the Bearcats 36 hours later. The whole episode played out in the press and left UNLV looking extremely foolish. Everything appeared good, however, when Arkansas Little Rock’s Chris Beard was hired after an impressive NCAA Tournament showing. But then 17 days later, Beard bolted for Texas Tech because of his previous ties to the school, prompting UNLV to settle for Menzies.
-- With five UNLV players turning pro early, only two of which were drafted, Menzies was left with a stiff challenge in filling out the roster. He went about it by signing a pair of grad transfers, five freshmen and three juco transfers.
-- UNLV is off its worst loss of the season at Arizona State, where the Sun Devils captured a 97-73 win as seven-point home favorites. Jalen Poyser scored a team-best 20 points, while Tyrell Green added 18 points and nine rebounds in the losing effort.
-- UNLV has posted a 1-1 spread record in a pair of underdog situations. The Runnin’ Rebels lost 63-59 to TCU but took the cash as 5.5-point home ‘dogs. They took their other loss of the year in the opener, as South Alabama came to Thomas & Mack and won a 76-68 decision as a six-point road ‘dog.
-- Poyner, a sophomore guard, is averaging team-highs in scoring (17.5 PPG) and assists (3.9 APG). Christian Jones, a grad transfer from St. John’s, is averaging 14.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest. Green (12.8 PPG) is hitting 48.5 percent of his shots from downtown and pulling down 6.2 RPG.
-- UNLV has won four of its six home games while compiling a 5-1 spread record.
-- Totals have been an overall wash (4-4) for the Rebels, but they’ve seen the ‘under’ go 4-2 in their six home contests.
-- The ‘under’ is 7-2 overall for Duke, but the ‘over’ has hit in two of its last three outings.
-- ESPN will provide the broadcast at 5:15 p.m. Eastern.
**Michigan at UCLA**
-- UCLA (9-0 SU, 7-2 ATS) has had all week to move past a monster 97-92 upset win over Kentucky as an 11-point underdog last Saturday at Rupp Arena. Six players scored in double figures led by Isaac Hamilton’s 19 points. T.J. Leaf produced 17 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, one steal and one blocked shot, while Lonzo Ball, Bryce Alford and Thomas Welsh scored 14 points apiece. Ball, a dynamic freshman point guard, finished with seven assists and six boards. The Bruins made 35-of-66 attempts from the field (53.0%), including 10-of-23 from long distance (43.5%).
-- As of late Friday afternoon, the Bruins were favored by 9.5 points at one offshore shop.
-- UCLA leads the nation in field-goal percentage (55.1%) and 3-point shooting (45.4%). Also, the Bruins are second in the country in scoring (97.0 PPG).
-- Steve Alford’s team is unbeaten in five home games at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins are 3-2 ATS.
-- Hamilton is leading UCLA in scoring with an 18.1 PPG average. The senior shooting guard has made 45.3 percent of his launches from 3-point land. Leaf (17.2 PPG) is pulling down 9.4 RPG and has made 67.4 percent of his shots from the field. Alford, the senior guard who is the head coach’s son, is averaging 15.3 PPG with a 25/11 assists-to-turnovers ratio. Ball, a true freshman who was a five-star recruit, is averaging 14.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 9.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocked shots per game. Ball has drained 55.4 percent of his shots from the field and 43.5 percent from downtown. He has a stellar 84/24 assists-to-turnovers ratio. Ball has dished out 10 assists or more in four games.
-- Michigan (7-2 SU, 2-4 ATS) has been an underdog just once this year, beating SMU 76-54 as a 1.5-point ‘dog at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Derrick Walton Jr. led the winners with 23 points and five assists without a turnover.
-- Michigan lost 61-46 at South Carolina as a three-point road favorite on Nov. 23. The Wolverines took their second loss at home to Va. Tech (73-70) a week later as 6.5-point ‘chalk.’ They’ve won back-to-back games since then.
-- Michigan is off a 53-50 win over Texas on Tuesday night in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines failed to cover the number for a third straight game as 9.5-point favorites. They scored the last five points of the game. Sophomore forward Moritz Wagner produced the go-ahead bucket at crunch time and then blocked a shot by Texas’s Eric Davis with five seconds left. Wagner finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Walton had more turnovers (five) than assists (two) and scored only seven points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field. D.J. Wilson and Duncan Robinson contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively.
-- John Beilein’s squad is ranked 10th in the nation in scoring defense (58.2 PPG). The Wolverines are eighth in free-throw shooting, burying 79.1 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe.
-- Michigan has a balanced scoring attack with seven players averaging at least 6.9 PPG. Zak Irvin is scoring a team-best 13.6 PPG. Walton is averaging 12.1 points and 3.8 RPG while dishing out 35 assists compared to 18 turnovers.
-- The ‘over’ is 6-3 overall for the Bruins, 4-1 in their home games.
-- The ‘under’ is 4-2 overall for the Wolverines, 1-0 in their lone road assignment.
-- These schools have met nine times since 1998 when the Bruins captured an 85-72 win over Michigan as a 6.5-point underdog in a Round of 32 matchup at the Ga. Dome in Atlanta. (Baron Davis tore his ACL in that game.) Since then, they have split eight games. In the last encounter in Ann Arbor on Nov. 23 of 2011, Michigan cruised to a 79-63 victory as a 5.5-point home ‘chalk.’
-- Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2.
**B.E.’s Bonus Nuggets**
-- A pair of unbeaten teams and former Big East rivals will collide at noon Eastern in Newark, N.J., at the Never Forget Tribute Classic. CBS will have the telecast with Villanova, the defending national champion, taking on Notre Dame, which has advanced to the Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons. As of late Friday afternoon, an offshore book had Villanova (9-0 SU, 5-4 ATS) favored by six points. Jay Wright’s squad has won eight of its nine games by double-digit margins. The Wildcats took the cash in their only prior single-digit ‘chalk’ spot by winning 79-76 at Purdue as 2.5-point road favorites. Josh Hart leads ‘Nova in scoring (17.6 PPG), assists (3.8 APG) and rebounds (6.7 RPG). Notre Dame (9-0 SU, 4-0 ATS) has won seven of its nine games by double-digit margins. The Fighting Irish has three quality wins over Iowa at home and over Northwestern and Colorado on a neutral floor.
-- Cincinnati will visit Hinkle Fieldhouse to take on Butler at 4:30 p.m. Eastern on Fox Sports 1. One offshore had the Bulldogs listed as five-point home favorites late Friday afternoon. Butler just took its first loss of the year a few nights ago, coughing up a late lead in a 72-71 loss at Indiana State. The Bearcats, who are ninth in the nation in scoring defense (58.1 PPG), have seen the ‘under’ go 5-2 overall. They’ve been an underdog once this year in their lone road assignment, winning 55-54 at Iowa State last Thursday as 6.5-point ‘dogs.
-- UT Arlington won its seventh straight game and handed Saint Mary’s its first loss on Thursday night. The Mavericks beat up on the Gaels 65-51 as 15-point road underdogs, hooking up money-line supporters with a 10/1 return (paid $1,000 on $100 wagers). Scott Cross’s team also has a win at Texas during its winning streak. Since Nov. 12, the Mavs haven’t had more than two days off between games, but they now have eight days off until playing at Bradley. Don’t be surprised to find Scott Cross’s team in the Round of 32 come March.
-- Wisconsin and Marquette are set to square off at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on Fox Sports 1 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. One offshore had the Badgers favored by 2.5 points late Friday afternoon.
-- East Tennessee State brings a five-game winning streak into Saturday’s showdown at Dayton. The Buccaneers, who were 7.5-point ‘dogs late Friday afternoon, are led by T.J. Cromer, who is averaging a team-best 18.2 PPG.
