College Basketball on Saturday and we will see the Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to South Bend, Indiana to take on the Depaul Blue Demons. The game is scheduled for a 2:00 pm (Eastern) start time and will be televised on ESPN 2. Currently the odds for the game have Notre Dame favored by 6 points while the total sits at 146.5. Check out Sportsbook Spy to see who the Public is taking on all of today's games.
Analysis: Notre Dame got to 5-3 in conference play with a win over Villanova at home this past Wednesday. The Irish and Wildcats went back and forth all game and ultimately Notre Dame was able to use their 3 point shooting and solid ball movement to hang on for the win. The Irish racked up 20 assists on the night and hit 9 three’s. Notre Dame ranks seventh nationally in shooting at 49.6% and they score 72.7 ppg. They are paced by senior forward Jack Cooley, who has recorded 13 double-doubles and is 10th nationally in shooting (58.7 percent) and rebounding (11.0). The 6-9, 245-pound Cooley (14.5 points) provides the scoring punch inside, but guards Jerian Grant and Eric Atkins drive the Irish offense. Grant averages 12.7 points, Atkins scores 11.6 points, and both are in the top 40 nationally in assists (Atkins 6.3; Grant 5.6). The Irish went 13 minutes without hitting a two-point basket in Wednesday’s 65-60 victory over Villanova, but survived in part due to freshman Cameron Biedscheid’s 18 points.
DePaul’s struggles continued this past week as they fell to 1-6 in conference play and 10-10 overall. The Blue Demons fifth loss in a row in conference play came on the road at St. John’s where they turned in a much stronger effort falling 79-74. The Blue Demons came to play after being beat by nearly 40 the game before and after forcing OT late in the game the Blue Demons missed key shots in OT that sent them to the loss. Not many things have gone the Blue Demons’ way of late, but Cleveland Melvin continues to have one of the better seasons in the Big East. The junior forward averages 16.7 points and 7.8 rebounds, ranking in the top 10 in the conference in both categories. Junior guard Brandon Young also averages 16.7 points after leading DePaul with 21 against St. John’s. The Blue Demons allow 71.4 points per game, most in the Big East. DePaul averages 9.5 steals, ranking 17th in the nation.
Free Pick: With as deliberate as the Irish play I just can’t go with anything but the Under in this one. Notre Dame games don’t usually put up nearly 150 points and I don’t see that happening here. Traditionally this is a high scoring series with the last 6 meetings putting up 140+ points, but lets also note that the Under is 22-8-1 in Notre Dame’s last 31 road games and the Under is 1-6 in their last 7 games overall. Each of Depaul’s 3 conference home games have not scored more than 145 points and I don’t see it happening here either.
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