The Notre Dame Fighting Irish know what it takes to beat the North Carolina Tar Heels; they did so in the regular season at home. However, when the chips were on the table in the ACC Tournament, the Irish were crushed 78-47. The rubber match on Easter Sunday between the two is for the grandest prize, a trip to the Final Four in Houston next week.
NCAA Tournament odds at BookMaker.eu will be available for this clash in the Elite Eight.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
All looked lost for Notre Dame at the tail end of its game against Wisconsin on Friday night. The Irish were down by three with just 19 seconds left to play, but a Demetrius Jackson steal started what turned out to be a shocking 8-0 run to steal the game from the Badgers.
Live bettors have to love the fact that the Fighting Irish had 10 steals in the game, two of which came in the crucial deciding 19 seconds, and it's that type of defensive intensity which will wins games this deep in the NCAA Tournament.
Notre Dame has now found a way to win three gritty games in a row in this tourney, and live bettors should note that it is now 4-0 in games decided by single-digits in postseason play.
North Carolina's offense has probably underachieved by its own standards, but it now has put at least 80 on the board in all of its tourney games. The first half effort in particular against Indiana was outstanding, and that was the third game in a row that at some point, the Heels used a big run to effectively put the game away. In this case, it was a 19-6 run in the middle of the first half that ended Indiana's NCAA Tournament.
KEY MATCHUP
We've been waiting for Jackson to really come up with one of those great defensive games in the NCAA Tournament, and he finally did so at the biggest time possible when he had three steals against the Badgers' guards. The junior has always had fantastic hands on the defensive end, and he's going to be asked to shut down Marcus Paige in this one.
Live bettors learned what happened in that first half on Friday when Paige really gets going. He knocked down all four of his three-point attempts, and the Tar Heels dropped a whopping 52 points on the board.
When Paige is hitting shots from the outside, the Tar Heels are literally unstoppable on offense. We know that the senior has struggled this season, but his season really turned around when he faced the Irish in the ACC Tournament. That day, Paige hit four threes en route to 16 points along with seven assists, and he didn't turn the ball over once.
That's why it isn't surprising North Carolina posted a blowout in that game, and live bettors should be ready for more of the same in this one if it's getting great play out of its point guard.
KEY STATS & TRENDS
Winning close games in the NCAA Tournament comes down to doing all of the little things right. Notre Dame has shot 82.2 percent from the foul line, and it has managed at least 10 offensive rebounds in each of its last two games. Friday's Elite 8 showdown against Wisconsin was the first time the Fighting Irish didn't shoot at least 55 percent from the field as well in a tourney game.
North Carolina's history of covering single-digit spreads is something live bettors will want to remember. The Tar Heels went 3-0 SU and ATS against single-digit numbers in the ACC Tournament, including blasting the Fighting Irish, and they built on that when they covered against Indiana on Friday. They're now 5-0 ATS in their last five and 7-1 ATS in their last eight when facing single-digit point spreads.
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