Duke vs James Madison prediction, pick for March Madness second round

BROOKLYN, NY — It’s Duke vs. the Dukes.

Duke basketball avoided Vermont’s upset bid on Friday night. The Blue Devils get another underdog for their second-round matchup of the NCAA Tournament.

The fourth-seeded Blue Devils (25-8) square off against the No. 12 James Madison Dukes (32-3) in a March Madness Round of 32 contest at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday. A game time and channel have yet to be announced.

If Duke wins Sunday, it will advance to the Sweet 16 in Dallas, where the blueblood program won its fifth and most-recent national championship in 2015.

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Here are some things to know and a score prediction for Duke-James Madison in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Duke basketball’s McCain is ‘built’ for March Madness

Jared McCain’s first NCAA Tournament game was a clutch one. The freshman guard delivered a 15-point, six-rebound, 3-assist performance in 34-plus minutes. His 15 points tied Mark Mitchell for the team lead and his plus-21 was tops on the Blue Devils.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer called McCain’s 3-pointer to push Duke’s lead to five points early in the second half perhaps the game’s biggest shot. McCain’s took advantage of his March Madness debut, and that’s an encouraging sign for Duke’s talented backcourt.

“Well, Jared is – one, I’m not surprised by what he did. Jared, he’s built differently. He’s made for these moments, in my opinion,” Scheyer said. “He’s not done by anything. And I’m just really proud of his effort and just him being different.”

Composure, toughness critical for Duke basketball

Duke’s response to Vermont’s final comeback bid late in the second half pleased Scheyer. Now, it’s about replicating that effort against a James Madison side that scored 27 points off 19 Wisconsin turnovers.

“Literally I could go down the line with each of these guys that stepped up and made big shots, big rebounds,” Scheyer said.

James Madison owns nation’s longest winning streak

James Madison of the Sun Belt Conference raced past No. 5 Wisconsin on Friday night to push his winning streak to a nation-leading 14 straight wins.

The Dukes are one of the nation’s top-scoring teams, averaging 84.4 points a game. Six players are averaging at least 7.0 points a game, topped by Terrance Edwards’ 17.4 points per game and TJ Bickerstaff’s 13.4-point average.

James Madison matched defending champion Connecticut for the most wins in college basketball. JMU reached the second round at March Madness for the first time since 1983.