Duke vs. Southern: College basketball game preview, TV schedule

After securing the biggest victory of the early season, Duke basketball has all the momentum and accolades in the world. But with the praise, now comes the added expectations and criticisms.

TV schedule: Friday, Nov. 17, 7:00 p.m. ET. ACC Network

Arena: Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina

After beating Michigan State 88-81 without star freshman Marvin Bagley III for three-quarters of the game, the fans and the players have to be riding an all-time high. Immediately after the buzzer, there were two main thoughts. Is Bagley okay? Once that answer is yes, the next thought was “when will they lose?”

Duke (3-0) does play in the PK80 but is considered another level over their potential opponents. Of course, this is college basketball, and anything can happen on a random night.

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That random night won’t be happening in this upcoming game, with Duke taking on SWAC program Southern (0-3). The Jaguars have started out losing three in a row, including an 86-58 defeat at the hands of Missouri State.

They come into this season having to make up for the loss of two of their top three players, including Shawn Prudhomme, who put up 17.5 ppg last year. The leader this time around is senior forward Jared Sam who has 17.0 ppg in his first three games. Outside of the 6’9 post player, there’s not much else for the Blue Devils to deal with.

Coming off of his career-high performance, Grayson Allen’s name has been thrown into the early consideration along with his teammate Bagley. Coach K has said he should be good to go Friday night, but expect his minutes to be limited.

In the big game, there was a seven-man rotation throughout the game. For Marques Bolden to not get much playing time was an eye-opener, with Javin DeLaurier getting the most time off the bench. Games like this are now crucial for his to gain some trust to get back into the rotation. He has the talent, but possibly not as much as the other big men.

Next: 3 takeaways in Dukes win over Michigan State

This could be an upset — mainly if they can beat the Vegas spread. However, this will get ugly, which is okay because the Jaguars will get a nice check, and Duke gets more time to gel without consequence.

Prediction: Duke 110 – Southern 64