Game one of the Champions Classic on Tuesday will feature two teams with storied college basketball histories when the Duke Blue Devils face the Michigan State Spartans in Chicago, Illinois at the United Center with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 PM ET on Tuesday evening and will air on ESPN.

Duke has already lost their first game of the season which came at home against the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday by a score of 73-78 while also failing to cover the 5-point spread as a home favorite which dropped their record to 1-1 to begin the season. However, the Blue Devils are still ranked in the Top 10 as they are 9^th in the AP Poll and 9^th in the Coaches Poll. The loss for Duke against Arizona can be attributed to their offensive play as they only shot 43.1% from the field and only had a 75% free throw percentage. The Blue Devils will also outrebounded by the Wildcats 33-45 which is a far cry from how they performed in their first game of the season against the Dartmouth Big Green in which Duke won 92-54 while covering the 28-point spread while shooting 64.4% from the field and outrebounded Dartmouth 33 to 29. The Duke Blue Devils will have another tough test on Tuesday evening when they face the Michigan State Spartans in the Champions Classic.

Like the Duke Blue Devils, the Michigan State Spartans enter this game with a record of 1-1 following an upset loss at home in overtime last week in their first game of the season against the James Madison Dukes by a score of 76-79. However, the Spartans remain in the Top 25 entering this game as they are ranked 18^th in the AP Poll and 19^th in the Coaches Poll and bounced back with a 74-54 win at home against the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles by a score of 74-51, however, the Spartans continue to struggle from beyond the arch as they have a 6% 3-point shooting success rate and if that continues against the Duke Blue Devils then the Spartans will not have any hope of winning the games on Tuesday evening in the Champions Classic.

BookMaker has the Duke Blue Devils listed as 4-point favorites against the Michigan State Spartans in the 2023 Champions Classic on Tuesday evening. Duke has won eight of the last ten and two of the last three meetings while winning by an average margin of 7.5 points per game over the last ten and 5 points per game over the last three games in the series. The Blue Devils are 6-4 ATS in the last ten and 2-1 ATS in the last three meetings. The Duke Blue Devils are 1-1 ATS overall and 1-1 ATS as a favorite this season while the Michigan State Spartans are 0-2 ATS overall on the year.

I am worried about Michigan State not being able to make enough three points in the matchup against Duke as they are shooting 6% beyond the arch and have struggled against the Blue Devils in the series having lost eight of the last ten and two of the last three meetings. The Blue Devils are 6-4 ATS in the last ten and 2-1 ATS in the last three games in the series which is why I am laying the points with the Duke Blue Devils in the Champions Classic on Tuesday evening when they face the Michigan State Spartans.