NCAA basketball on Wednesday night and we will see the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets travel to South Bend, Indiana to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The game has a start time of 7:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Vegas odds have the Fighting Irish listed as 6 point favorites, while the total sits at 136.
Analysis: The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets come in 13-14 overall and 4-10 with in the ACC. The Jackets have won just 1 of their last 5 games and a big reason is an offense that has really struggled, as they have scored just 53.2 ppg during that stretch. Overall the Jackets have averaged 66.7 ppg on 43.6% shooting. Trae Golden leads the offense with 13.1 ppg, while Marcus Georges-Hunt (12.1 ppg) and Daniel Miller (11.2 ppg) also average in double figures for the Jackets. Robert Carter is 4th in scoring at 9.5 ppg, while leading the team in rebounds at 8.4 rpg. The Jackets have been solid on defense this year, allowing just 66.9 ppg on 41.9% shooting. The Yellow Jackets have won five straight meetings.
Notre Dame has had a rough go of it in their first year in the ACC as they are 14-14 overall and just 5-10 in conference play. The Irish already have two three-game losing streaks in conference play and will pick up a third if it cannot get past the Jackets tonight. Notre Dame averages a modest 72.4 ppg on 45.4% shooting for the year. They have struggled to find a consistent scorer since losing Jerian Grant, but Garrick Sherman has done his best to pick up the slack, averaging 13.6 ppg to lead the Irish in scoring, while also leading the team in rebounding at 7.5 rpg. Pat Connaughton (13.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and Eric Atkins (13.4 ppg) round out the double digit scorer for the team. On defense the Irish have struggled, allowing 70.2 ppg (180th) on 45.0% shooting overall (246th) and 38% from long range (329th).
Pick: Oh I have to go with the Under here. This should be a slow paced game between two teams that have really struggled on the offensive end of the floor. The Jackets come in averaging just 53.2 ppg on 41.9% shooting in their last 5 games and the Irish defense has played pretty good of late at home, allowing just 65.3 ppg in their last 4 ACC home games (Regulation Only). The Irish allow 69 ppg at home, but teams only shoot 43.4% on them on their home floor. The Irish offense has really struggled since losing Grant, but even more so of late as they have averaged just 59.3 ppg (Reg) in their last 9 games overall and the Jackets have played very good defense f late, allowing just 62.2 ppg in their last 5 games. Georgia Tech's last 5 games have averaged just 115.4 ppg, while Notre Dame's last 6 games in regulation have averaged just 125.8 ppg. Looks like value on the Under here.
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