Louisville Cardinals vs Duke Prediction & Picks - NCAA Men

Prediction published on 1/6/26, 3:49 PM  by Travis Pulver | Modified on 1/13/26 at 9:08 AM in Basketball Picks

The No. 20 Louisville Cardinals will try to get back on track after their first conference loss of the season (80-76 vs. Stanford) when they host the No. 6 Duke Blue Devils. Tipoff for this ACC battle between two ranked teams is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY. Coverage provided by ESPN.

Louisville got off to a solid start this season before dropping its first game, vs. then-No. 25 Arkansas (89-80). They bounced back quickly with a win in their next outing vs. then-No. 22 Indiana, 87-78. But then they dropped a second game to an SEC team, this time the then-No. 20 Tennessee, 83-62. All three losses had at least one common factor: the Cardinals struggled from behind the arc, hitting no more than 22% of their attempts in a game. As for Duke, the Blue Devils were a dominant force throughout their non-conference schedule with wins over four ranked teams, but then they dropped their first game of the season in their last non-conference game, 82-81 vs. then-No. 19 Texas Tech. They wasted no time getting back on track with an 85-79 win over Georgia Tech in their conference opener, followed by a 91-87 victory over Florida State.