Cincinnati at Notre Dame


Written by -

The 16th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish host the 25th-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats on Wednesday, January 19. The tip is set for 7:00 EST and will be nationally televised on ESPN 2. Notre Dame is reeling from a pair of blowout losses, while Cincinnati is also looking to bounce back from a lopsided defeat. Taking a look at the spreads for this Top 25 tussle, I find a line of Notre Dame -3 over Cincinnati with a total set of 130 points.

Notre Dame (14-4, 3-3) started the season fast, but they have not looked good at all over their past two games. Following a 79-57 loss to Marquette on January 10, the Fighting Irish were crushed by St. John’s 72-54 this past Saturday. They were absolutely horrendous against the Red Storm, setting the Big East record for fewest first-half field goals with four. Notre Dame committed a season-high 20 turnovers against St. John’s and were held to 3-of-15 shooting from 3-point range. The Irish also shot 3-of-15 from distance against Marquette.

Turnovers have been a problem here of late, though the Irish only average 11.0 turnovers per contest. Turning the ball over may continue to be a problem against Cincinnati (16-2, 3-2). The Bearcats own the top-ranked scoring defense in the Big East at 56.2 points per game allowed, and rank fourth in the conference in turnovers forced at 16.2 per contest.

Cincinnati is also coming off a sluggish offensive showing. They shot a season-low 30.5 percent from the floor and scored their fewest points in any game this season in a 67-52 loss at then-No. 4 Syracuse on Saturday. Only one player showed up and that was Dion Dixon. He finished with 18 points while hitting six 3-pointers, but the other four starters combined for only 14 points and shot 5-of-23 from the floor. In fact, the Bearcats went 2-of-20 to open the second half and watched their 4-point deficit grow to 20.

Notre Dame has a chance to rebound as four of their next six games will be played at the Joyce Center. Not only are the Fighting Irish 11-0 at home this season, they have won 80 of their last 88 home contests. Their big wins this season include victories over then-No. 8 Connecticut and then-No. 9 Georgetown. The Fighting Irish will be up against a Cincinnati team that hast lost 18 straight road games against Top 25 foes.

These teams split meetings last season with each squad protecting its home court. Notre Dame has won six of nine meetings all-time with the Bearcats, winning all three at the Joyce Center. The Irish are led by Ben Hansbrough who is having a tremendous season. He leads the team in points (15.9), assists (3.7) and steals (1.3) and is shooting 43.4 percent from 3-point range. Tim Abromaitis is second in scoring (15.5) and leads the team in rebounding (6.9). Notre Dame will be playing without their third-leading scorer in Carleton Scott who has been out since early January with a hamstring injury.

Cincinnati is a much more balanced team. They go 10 and 11 deep in most games which allows players to stay fresh and give max effort for 40 minutes. It’s a big reason why they have been so good defensively all season. Offensively, Dion Dixon leads the team in scoring (12.8). Next in line is Yancy Gates (11.4), followed by Sean Kilpatrick (10.1). The Bearcats have ten players averaging at least 10 minutes per game, and seven players scoring over 5 points per contest.

BetUS Projected Score: Notre Dame 67 – Cincinnati 64

Subscribe to the BetFirms RSS Feed
Comments

Got something to say?