Cameron Indoor Stadium – Durham, NC
Tip-off: Tuesday, 9:15 p.m. ET
Line: Duke -7

With two losses already this season, No. 22 Michigan will look to give No. 10 Duke its third loss of the season when it visits Durham for this year’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Though both of these teams have two SU losses, they came to very different opponents. The Wolverines fell to a then-unranked Iowa State team and more recently Charlotte, while the Blue Devils have lost to Kansas and Arizona, who now rank sixth and second, respectively, in the nation. Still, Duke has looked shaky in a number of other games, including the past two home games where it beat 26.5-point underdog Vermont by only one point and allowed 24.5-point underdog East Carolina to come within single digits. Overall, the Blue Devils are 4-4 ATS, but 1-3 ATS in their past four games. But Mike Krzyzewski’s squad is 12-3 ATS after failing to cover in two of its last three games over the past two seasons. The Wolverines are 2-3 ATS overall, and 1-3 ATS in non-home games. Expect this to be a high-scoring affair with Duke’s offense that is averaging 87.0 PPG (17th in D-I) on 52.1% shooting (9th in nation), while the Blue Devils are giving up 73.7 PPG defensively. Michigan is scoring only 78.1 PPG (101st in nation), but has been stingier defensively at 61.0 PPG on 40.9% FG. The last time these two teams met was in the 2011 NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 when the Blue Devils won 82-75 and narrowly covered a six-point spread in a nail-biter.

Can Duke win comfortably at home in this matchup? For the latest college basketball picks, check out The Platinum Sheet for all the StatFox Experts selections every week throughout the entire 2013-14 season. The StatFox Experts have been rolling since Nov. 24, with a 66% ATS (19-10) mark on college basketball Best Bets. StatFox Brian is 5-2 ATS during this timeframe, and is 58% ATS (11-8-1) for the season. StatFox Dave and StatFox Zach are both 5-1 ATS during this timeframe, and also 58% ATS (11-8-1) for the season. StatFox Scott is also a profitable 55% ATS (11-9) on his Best Bets so far.

The big star in this game for Michigan may have to be C Mitch McGary (8.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG) who can help exploit an undersized Duke frontcourt. Bigger teams like Kansas and Arizona sure took advantage of this weakness, outrebounding the Blue Devils by an average of 11.5 RPG in their two losses. After a freshman campaign in which he came on strong at the end, though, McGary is hitting only 48.6% FG this year, down from 59.8% FG last season. The team’s leading scorer has been fellow sophomore, SG Nik Stauskas (20.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 3.0 APG), who was mostly a sharp-shooter last year but has displayed a more complete game in 2013. He’s hitting 2.6 threes per game on a hefty 47.4% clip, and should be good to go despite a nagging ankle injury that forced him to miss the team’s most recent win against Coppin State on Friday. Fellow sophomores, SG Caris LeVert (13.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.7 APG) and PF Glenn Robinson III (12.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG) also pour in double-digit points. Also watch out for freshman PG Derrick Walton Jr. (8.9 PPG, 3.3 APG) who leads the team in passing, but needs to improve his 1.35 Ast/TO ratio (23 assists, 17 turnovers).

Two players average at least 20 points per game for the Blue Devils, headlined by star freshman PF Jabari Parker (23.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG) who leads the team in both scoring and rebounding. Due to the team’s lack of size, he often plays the four or five and could face himself matched up against McGary for much of the game. Though he scored 19 points in the team’s loss to Arizona, it was his first tough performance of the year as he made only 7-of-21 FG. Overall, he’s hitting 55.4% of his shots and 50% of his 3-pointers (14-of-28). The other top scorer has been SF Rodney Hood (20.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG), who is doing big things after sitting out last season while transferring from Mississippi State. The redshirt sophomore is hitting 59.1% of his treys (13-of-22) and 62.2% FG. That duo needs more help offensively, though, as PG Quinn Cook (13.4 PPG, 6.0 APG) is the only other Blue Devils player contributing consistent offense. SG Andre Dawkins (7.3 PPG) can be an effective sharp-shooter off the bench, while C Amile Jefferson (5.8 PPG, 4.0 RPG) needs to be the post presence helping Parker more than he has. Sophomore SG Rasheed Sulaimon (7.1 PPG) also needs to step it up after putting up 11.6 PPG in his freshman campaign where he shot 42.4% FG, compared to his woeful 36.2% FG clip this season.