How to watch or stream Duke vs Ohio State college basketball game on Wednesday

Eight games into its college basketball season, No. 17 Duke’s inability to score like Blue Devils teams are accustomed to jumps out as a major issue.

Entering Wednesday night’s game with No. 25 Ohio State, the Blue Devils are among the nation’s poorest shooting teams, particularly behind the 3-point line.

Duke is shooting 41.7% from the field for the season, No. 275 among 352 Division I teams nationally. On 3-pointers, the Blue Devils’ 29.1% accuracy is No. 306. The only ACC team shooting worse on 3-pointers is Boston College.

Looking at analytics, Duke’s points per possession rate of 0.876 is No. 224 nationally, according to Synergy Sports.

The Blue Devils (6-2) have been such a strong defensive team they’ve made up for their struggles offensively, for the most part. But against better teams, like when Duke lost, 75-56, to No. 5 Purdue (6-0) last Sunday, that lack of consistent scoring is detrimental. Duke scored just one point over the final nine minutes of that game and Purdue ended the game on a 12-0 run.

Two freshman players Duke expected to be major contributors on both ends of the court haven’t been at full strength.

Dereck Lively II, a 7-1 center, is averaging 2.7 points per game after missing a month of practice with a strained right calf. Dariq Whitehead, a 6-7 forward, is averaging 5.2 points per game after a fractured right foot required August surgery and sidelined him through the middle of November.

Graduate transfer Jacob Grandison, a 41% 3-point shooter the past two seasons at Illinois, is shooting 33% (7 of 21) thus far.

The season is still young, of course. So Duke coach Jon Scheyer is confident the team will improve.

“Now we’ve had a few experiences being here,” Scheyer said following the loss to Purdue on Sunday in Portland, Oregon. You know, every game that we’ve played, I think we’ve learned something from. You need to make a team like that really work and break them down on defense and that’s the next step that we need to get to.”

Duke will have to show improvement while facing its third ranked team, and second such foe in a row, in Ohio State. After opening ACC play at home with Boston College on Saturday, the Blue Devils play Iowa in the Jimmy V Classic at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

The Hawkeyes (5-1) fell out of the top 25 after losing, 79-66, to Texas Christian last Saturday night.

Tipoff time + TV channel for Wednesday’s game

The game will start at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday and will air on ESPN, which is available on major cable and satellite services, like Spectrum, Dish Network and DirecTV.

How to stream Duke vs Ohio State game online

Are you a cord-cutter?

If your preferred method of watching games involves streaming, there are options for that, too.

ESPN is available on Sling, fuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV Stream and YouTubeTV streaming services.

Game day details: Duke vs. Ohio State

Teams: Duke Blue Devils vs Ohio State Buckeyes

Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham

Date: Wednesday, Nov. 30

Time: 7:15 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Betting line: Duke is a 4.5-point favorite and the over-under total is 137.5 points.

Series history: Duke and Ohio State have played eight times over the years with each team winning four. The Buckeyes pulled even in the series in last year’s ACC-Big Ten Challenge, knocking off No. 1 Duke, 71-66, in Columbus, Ohio.

Pregame reading