Cougs Daily

KenPom Predicts BYU Basketball vs Duquesne in NCAA Tournament

The Cougars take on the Dukes in the first round of the NCAA Tournament

Casey Lundquist

On Sunday, BYU was selected as an at-large team in the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars, a 6-seed, will take on the 11-seed Duquesne Dukes in the first round. 

KenPom, the industry leader in college basketball analytics, predicted BYU-Duquesne. KenPom gives BYU a 76% chance to win with a projected final score of 76-68 in favor of the Cougars.

As of this writing, BYU is ranked 16th in KenPom while Duquesne is ranked 86th.

Duquesne ranks 166th in offensive efficiency per KenPom. The Dukes do a lot of their damage on the defensive end where they rank 28th nationally.

BYU's offense against Duquesne's defense will be the top storyline of this matchup. BYU led the Big 12 in scoring this season, and they rank 11th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency per KenPom. A good shooting performance would be enough to help BYU advance to the second round.

Game Information

Dallin Hall BYU Basketball
Credit: BYU Photo

BYU (23-10) vs Duquesne (24-11)
Thursday, March 21
Tipoff: 10:40 a.m. MT
Omaha, Nebraska
CHI Health Center Omaha

Duquesne enters this game on an eight-game winning streak. The Dukes were 6-8 in conference play before they started a winning streak that ended with four straight wins to win the A-10 tournament. This is their first NCAA tournament bid in 47 years.

East Bracket

The winner of BYU-Duquesne will advance to take on the winner of 3-seed Illinois and 14-seed Morehead State. KenPom gives Illinois an 87% chance to beat Morehead State and advance to the round of 32. One of those four teams will advance to the Sweet 16. 

Waiting for the winner of that region will be the winner of the Iowa State-South Dakota State and Washington State-Drake region. KenPom gives Iowa State a 93% chance to beat South Dakota State. KenPom gives Washington State a 54% chance to beat Drake with an expected final score of 71-70. 

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Casey Lundquist
CASEY LUNDQUIST

Casey Lundquist is the publisher and lead editor of Cougs Daily. He has covered BYU athletics for the last four years. During that time, he has published over 2,000 stories that have reached more than three million people.

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