Houston Cougars vs. Duke Blue Devils Preview, Prediction & Odds | April 5, 2025

This Houston Cougars vs. Duke Blue Devils Preview, Prediction, & Odds will handicap this second Final Four collision between the ACC icons and the defensive Big 12 juggernaut. Both teams come in as No. 1 seeds from their respective regions and have excellent head coaches in Kelvin Sampson and Jon Scheyer. The winner will play the Auburn vs Florida Final Four game winner from earlier in the night in Monday night’s Championship Game at the Alamodome.

Houston vs. Duke Odds

Houston vs. Duke Game Details

• Game: Houston Cougars vs. Duke Blue Devils

• Date and Time: Saturday, April 5, 2025, 8:49 EDT/7:49 CDT/5:49 PDT

• Location: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas

• TV: CBS

Key Stats

Houston Cougars

The No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional, Houston (34-4), manhandled Tennessee in the regional finals, and the Cougars are still looking for their first national championship. Houston was runner-up in 1983 and 1984. Here, the Cougars (+430 to win the 2025 National Championship, FanDuel) will need all hands on deck against a talented Duke side, which has seen the public bet heavily on them, driving the line all the way up to 5.5 (Friday).

But Sampson has his own group of ballers in LJ Cryer (11/1 to win Men’s Final Four Outstanding Player), Milos Uzan (13/1), Emanuel Sharp (30/1), and J’Wan Roberts (48/1). The big key for Houston (20-16-2 ATS) will be to try and slow the pace down and keep this a low-scoring game.

Houston Betting Trends

• Houston has the longest current Winning Streak (17 games)
• The Cougars are 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games 
• The Under is 7-3-0 in the last 10 Houston games
• Houston is 30-1 SU in its last 31 games (+24.90 Units, 1% ROI)
• The Under is 5-1-0 in the last 6 Houston games overall

Duke Blue Devils

The No. 1 seed in the East Regional, Duke (35-3), has the most exciting player in the Final Four in Cooper Flagg (+115 to win Men’s Final Four Outstanding Player) and is the oddsmakers’ prohibitive favorite to win it all (-115). The Blue Devils eliminated Michigan State to get here, winning by 20 (85-65) in the East final.

Besides sensational freshman Flagg (18.9 PPG 7.5 RPG, 4.2 APG), Duke also has Kon Knueppel (14.4 PPG), Tyrese Proctor (12.5 PPG), Sion James (8.7 PPG, 4.2 RPG), and Khaman Maluach (8.7 RPG, 6,8 RPG). The Blue Devils (25-13-0 ATS) have already beaten Auburn this season and have the lofty expectations of winning the championship this time around.

Duke Betting Trends

• Duke is 7-3-0 ATS in its last 10 games
• The Over is a profitable 3-1-0 in the Blue Devils’ last 4 games 
• The Blue Devils are 4-1-0 ATS in their last 5 games
• Duke is 31-1 SU in its last 32 games (+28.40 Units, 2% ROI) 
• The Blue Devils are 19-6 ATS in the First Half of their last 25 (+12.10 Units, 42% ROI)

Prediction

There are some conflicting trends to think about when making this Houston Cougars vs. Duke Blue Devils prediction. Favorites went 3-0-0 ATS in the 2024 Final Four and are a profitable 5-1-0 ATS over the past two years and are winning this spring.

But Houston is 3-0-0 ATS in its last 3 as an Underdog. The thought here is that Cryer, Uzan, and the Cougars will try to slow this one down, and in a game they can certainly win, getting 5.5 points seems like the logical betting approach. The two met last year in the 2024 NCAA Tournament in the South Regional semifinals, where Duke prevailed 54-51 (DUKE -4, 133.5).

Final Pick

Houston +5.5 -118