College Basketball on Saturday and we will see the Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel south to take on the South Florida Bulls. The game is scheduled for a 12:00 pm (Eastern) start time and will be televised locally. Currently the odds for the game have Notre Dame favored by 3.5 points. Check out Sportsbook Spy to see who the Public is taking on all of today's games.
Free Analysis: Notre Dame has lost three of its last four games after a 14-1 start, capped by a demoralizing 16-point loss at home to Georgetown on Monday. The Irish play three of the next four games on the road, beginning at struggling South Florida on Saturday afternoon. Notre Dame is still shooting almost 50 percent from the field and is second in the nation in assists. However, the Irish have not been good on the defensive end since league play began. The Irish have given up 47 percent shooting in six Big East games, second to last in the league, while standing last in blocked shots and tied for 12th in steals. Cooley continues his strong play up front, averaging 14.8 points and 10.6 rebounds while shooting 59.4 percent from the field (second in the Big East). Jerian Grant (12.5) and Eric Atkins (11.9) also score in double figures for the Irish, who shoot 49.8 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from 3-point range. But the Irish are only 15-of-54 (27.7 percent) from behind the arc the last four games.
South Florida was unable to build off their thrilling upset of Georgetown last weekend as they fell to the Seton Hall Pirates 55-47. The Bulls had another rough shooting night at Seton Hall, making just three of 19 attempts from 3-point range. USF had won seven of eight coming into league play, but has struggled since. Victor Rudd leads the team in scoring (10.9) and rebounding (7.3), while Jawanza Poland (10.8) and Toarlyn Fitzpatrick (10.6) also score in double figures. Sophomore point guard Anthony Collins averages 7.1 assists,10th in the nation. Martino Brock, who averaged 14.2 points at South Alabama in 2010-11, is contributing only 5.1 points per game since transferring to USF this season. Meeting South Florida might be the best medicine for the Irish and their defense. The Bulls are averaging 51.7 points and shooting 37.8 percent from the field in Big East games – last in both categories – and have dropped seven straight to the Irish.
Free Pick: I will go with the Irish to bounce back in this one. The Irish are clearly the better team here. They have the motivation off of a bad loss, they have the much better offense and vs this Bulls offense their defense should have it’s strongest showing in a couple weeks. Notre Dame has also dominated the series, winning the last 7. Both teams are struggling right now, but Notre Dame has what it takes to right the ship and they should with a solid win here.
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