ACC Basketball on Saturday afternoon and we will see the Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The game has a start time of 3:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 3. Vegas odds have the Demon Deacons listed as 1.5 point favorites, while the total has yet to be set.
Analysis: Notre Dame Checks in at 11-8 overall and 2-4 in the ACC. The Fighting Irish have yet to win a conference game on the road, but came close Tuesday at Florida State before falling by two points. Since beating Duke to open their league slate, the Iris have gone just 1-4, with the lone victory coming at home against Virginia Tech. Garrick Sherman leads all active players with 14.9 ppg and 8.4 rpg, while posting 6 double-doubles in his last 11 games. Eric Atkins (14.3) and Pat Connaughton (13.8) also average double figures for Brey, whose team averages 77.3 ppg on 46.6% shooting. Defensively the numbers are not so great as the Irish have allowed 71.2 ppg on 44.4% shooting.
The Demon Deacons come in at 13-6 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. In their last game they took a hard fought 83-77 win at Virginia Tech, which improved the team to just 2-27 in ACC road games under Jeff Bzdelik. This game will be at home, where they are 11-0 on the year. Codi Miller-McIntyre leads the team with 15.5 ppg and Devin Thomas checks in a second on the team in scoring (11 ppg), while leading the team in rebounding with 8.6 per game. Travis McKie is the only other DD scorer on the team, averaging 10 ppg. Wake is an average offensive team, averaging 72.5 ppg, while on defense they have been solid, giving up just 68.3 ppg.
Pick: Gonna go with the Irish in this one. Wake is a solid team and they are undefeated, but the Irish are also a solid team and are learning to play without Grant. Mike Brey is an excellent coach and gets the most out of what he has to work with. He will do so here again as the Irish pick up a much needed road win.
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