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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have had a couple bad defeats of late to Florida State and Georgia Tech, teams which probably won't be in the NCAA Tournament this season. They'll be back at home for their final two regular season games though, and it would be stunning to see them struggle on Senior Day against the N.C. State Wolfpack.
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SCHEDULING
The scheduling is a little tight for both of these teams this week. Both play on Wednesday night followed by Saturday afternoon. There will be a slight pause for concern for Wolfpack live bettors, knowing that practice time will be thin, especially knowing that they haven't won a game in the ACC on the road since January 19.
Notre Dame will be happy to be back at home where it is 13-1 this season after three straight road games. If Wednesday's game against Miami is won, there could be some complacency in this game with the ACC Tournament coming up next week, though the opportunity still exists to get a Top 4 seed, something that would be huge to avoid having to play until Thursday at the Verizon Center.
KEY MATCHUP
The Wolfpack aren't all that athletic, but they might not have to be against the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame's outside game really opens up when it's dominating in the paint, and we're not all that sure that's going to happen against NCSU.
The Wolfpack have three starters in Beejay Anya, Abdul-Malik Abu and Caleb Martin who could all handle bodying up with Bonzie Colson and Zach Auguste. Auguste is still going to be the best player on the court in terms of interior play, but live bettors should be worried if Notre Dame merely becomes a three-point shooting team.
Steve Vasturia and Demetrius Jackson, for as good as they are, aren't really great at getting shots close to the rim, particularly in traffic, and that could end up being a hassle.
If NCSU's live bettors have a shot of keeping this game close, the Wolfpack desperately need the threesome of Anya, Abu and Martin to outplay Auguste.
KEY STATS & TRENDS
Notre Dame has quietly scored 71 points or fewer in its last four games, averaging just 64.5 points per game in the process. This is a club which averaged over 78 points per game before this mini-meltdown.
In that process, Colson, who averages 11.6 points per game, has scored a total of just 27 points and hasn't logged anywhere near a single double-double.
The Wolfpack have had some real problems against contending teams this year in the ACC. Sure, they have wins over Clemson, Miami and Pitt, but they also didn't come anywhere near covering against Syracuse, North Carolina and Virginia, all games of which have taken place since Valentine's Day.
Cat Barber is averaging 23.2 points per game and should exceed 700 points this NCAAB season with a good game on Saturday. The junior is a perfect example of being damned if you do and damned if you don't. He scored 32 in a dominant performance against North Carolina, but the rest of the team only managed 36 points. In the game prior to that against Clemson, he scored just eight, while against Syracuse, he scored only 15. The rest of the squad always struggles in games which Barber doesn't play well, but if he isn't keeping his teammates involved, the offense isn't balanced enough to be viable in live betting.
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