Pitt Panthers vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish NCAA Hoops Predictions
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Team records:
Pittsburgh – 21-6 SU, 14-8-2 ATS
Notre Dame – 17-10 SU, 10-10-1 ATS
The No. 15 Pitt Panthers will be visiting the Golden Dome this evening to take on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
Pitt beat Notre Dame at home last January 93-80 (ATS win -11.5). In that contest Dejaun Blair dominated Luke Harangody with 23 points and 22 rebounds. Blair is gone and Harangody’s status for tonight is uncertain.
The Panthers enter tonight off their biggest win of the year, a home upset of Villanova. They have won five in a row after a stretch of losing four of 5 to get back into the rankings and pretty much guarantee a spot in the “Tourney”. They are playing off of the hot shooting of Ashton Gibbs and getting timely contributions from others. Amazingly for a team that has produced some decent bigs this team is very guard oriented with all four of their leading scorers from the backcourt. This team often plays a lineup with only one player over 6″6″. They still employ the defensive principles favored by coach Jamie Dixon and rarely get out rebounded. If Harangody can’t go for the Irish their lack of size will definitely not be an issue.
As of this writing star forward Luke Harangody is doubtful for tonight’s contest. There is probably no player more important to his teams as evidenced by the Irish’ embarrassing home loss to St. John’s last week. ND is a high scoring team and they like to get up and down the floor. The problem is that without Harangody the rest of the team has a tougher time getting the right shots. Forward Tim Abromaitis has really upped his game at 17ppg but without Harangody this team has little hope of beating an elite conference opponent like Pittsburgh. It will help that the Panthers are not dominant upfront but in the end ND just doesn’t have enough overall talent to beat Pitt. The only thing that might provide a counter would be their bubbly tournament status. They would pretty much have to win out and that seems unlikely with upcoming games against UConn at home and Georgetown and Marquette on the road.
PITT vs. ND Odds
The odds makers have Kansas State 5.5 favorites in this one.
Betting Trends:
Over is 5-0 in the last 5 meetings.
Road team is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings.
Panthers are 13-3-2 ATS in their last 18 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.
Over is 5-0 in Panthers last 5 vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.
Over is 5-0 in Fighting Irish last 5 vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.
Free Panthers vs. Fighting Irish CBB Pick
Pitt is the better team and with Harangody out ND is severely shorthanded. Normally winning on the road in the Big East a real challenge but the Irish have shown some lapses lately. At -1 Pitt is a great play.
Final Score prediction PITT 69 – ND 61
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