College Basketball on Saturday and we will see the Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to Rhode Island to take on the Providence Friars. The game is scheduled for a 12:00 pm (Eastern) start time and will be televised on the Big East Network. Currently the Odds for the game have Providence favored by 1.5 points while the total sits at 121.5.
Analysis: Notre Dame will try to summon some energy once again when it travels to take on Providence on Saturday afternoon. Following their thrilling five-overtime win against Louisville on Saturday, the 21st-ranked Fighting Irish needed another extra session to get by DePaul on Wednesday night. Including another overtime game against the Blue Demons on Feb. 2, Notre Dame has been forced to play seven overtimes in four games this month, winning each of the three contests not decided in regulation. Notre Dame has not lost to Providence (13-11, 5-7) since a 73-59 defeat Feb. 24, 2004, winning six straight road games in this series. Notre Dame took the lone meeting last season, 75-69 at home behind Jack Cooley's 27 points and 17 rebounds. Henton led the Friars with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Cotton made 2 of 11 shots for seven points. Cooley has posted a career-best five straight double-doubles, averaging 16.0 points and 12.8 rebounds in that span. He tops the Big East in rebounding with 11.2 per game, with Henton is also among the leaders at 8.0. The Irish are shooting a conference-best 38.6 percent on 3-pointers while the Friars lead the Big East in limiting opponents to 28.8 percent from beyond the arc. Notre Dame's Jerian Grant is 14 of 31 (45.2 percent) from 3-point range over the last six games. He's totaled 40 points and 15 assists in the last two while backcourt mate Eric Atkins has 27 points and 11 assists.
The Friars have played only three games all month and none have gone to overtime, giving them 75 fewer minutes of action than Notre Dame in February. Amazingly, they have the same number of wins this month, reeling of their first three-game winning streak in Big East play since Jan. 19-28, 2009. Kadeem Batts scored 24 points as Providence rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat South Florida 76-66 on Wednesday. Providence is just really a good basketball team," Brey said. "Caught the second half of (the) game against South Florida and they just exploded down there in Tampa. They have beaten good people all year." Coming off a win over then-No. 17 Cincinnati, the Friars needed to avoid a letdown Wednesday against the Bulls, the league doormat. They did so on the strength of a very impressive second-half surge. Providence scored the first 17 points after the break, holding South Florida without a point for more than seven minutes. The run was capped by two baskets for LaDontae Henton, who had 19 points. Vincent Council chipped in 11 points and eight assists. Council, who missed 10 games this season with a leg injury, has 16 assists against only one turnover in his last two contests.
Pick: The Irish may be a bit tired, but I feel they have enough to take care of Providence in this one Notre dame has owned this series and Providence is playing over their heads right now. I look for ND to get a big road win before taking on Pitt on Monday.
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