Notre Dame vs Pittsburgh| 2021 NCAAB Expert Analysis

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It’s a bit of watered-down college basketball slate on Tuesday because of COVID and the holiday break and the lone power conference matchup features Notre Dame at Pittsburgh from the ACC. Let’s take a look at how the teams come in to place their college basketball odds.

How to Bet Notre Dame at Pittsburgh NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Tuesday, 8 PM ET
Where: Petersen Events Center
TV: ACC Network
Stream: ESPN app
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: Notre Dame -4 (total 128)

Last Season

These teams played once last season, also in Pittsburgh, and the Irish rolled to an 84-58 victory. Cormac Ryan had 19 points, Prentiss Hubb added 17, and the duo combined for 10 3-pointers. Dane Goodwin added 16 points and Juwan Durham had 14 for the Irish, who shot 56% percent (32 of 57) overall. Justin Champagnie had 19 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks to lead Pitt. He shot 8 of 20 from the field while the rest of the Panthers were 15 of 53 (28%).

Notre Dame and Pittsburgh will be meeting for the 67th time. The Irish lead the series 35-31, Pitt is 19-14 at home. Notre Dame has won 10 of the 14 most recent meetings.

Why Bet on Notre Dame?

The Irish (6-5, 0-1 ACC) come off an 83-73 win over Texas A&M Corpus-Christi last Wednesday. Dan Goodwin scored a season-high 21 points and Notre Dame made a season-high 16 3-pointers. Goodwin made 5 of 7 3-point attempts with the Fighting Irish sinking 16 of 29 from the arc for 55% — better than their 49% overall — as they overcame a fast start by the Islanders then pulled away late.

Blake Wesley added 15 points and a career-high nine assists for Notre Dame. Paul Atkinson Sr. and Cormac Ryan scored 14 points each with Prentiss Hubb adding 11 with five assists. Notre Dame’s 27 field goals came off a season-high 21 assists.

Goodwin has scored in double figures in all 11 games (a career-best streak) this season and leads the team with 15.3 ppg. He is one of the best free throw shooters on the team, boasting a .834 career average from the stripe (24-26 this season). There are nine players in the country averaging 15.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg and shooting over 47 percent from 3-point range. There is only one player, however, that is accomplishing those number and shooting over 90 percent from the free throw line and that’s Goodwin.

Ryan has scored 22 points in the second half of Notre Dame’s last two victories, going 7-for-9 from the field, 5-5 from three-point range and pulling down eight rebounds. Wesley is averaging 13.5 points per game, which is the third-best average in the ACC and eighth-best among major conference true freshman.

Wesley has started the last five games and has reached double figures in scoring after nine of his first 11 career games. He is now seventh among Mike Brey era true freshman in double-digit scoring games and joins Chris Thomas and Luke Harangody as the only rookies to reach that plateau in eight of their first 10 games.

This is the final game of 2021 for Notre Dame and last game this week because their home matchup on Saturday vs. Duke was postponed due to COVID issues on the Blue Devils.

Why Bet on Pittsburgh?

The Panthers (5-7, 0-1 ACC) most recently played last Tuesday and beat visiting Jacksonville 64-55. Sophomore guard Femi Odukale tied a career-high with 28 points and graduate student forward Mouhamadou Gueye totaled 15 points and 12 rebounds. Odukale made a career-best five three-pointers including three in the first half. Gueye added four assists and four blocks. Senior Jamarius Burton had 12 points and six rebounds while sophomore John Hugley finished with eight points and nine boards. The Panthers finished 33.3% (9-27) from deep for the game while shooting 37.7% (20-53) overall. After being outrebounded 21-17 in the first half, Pitt finished the game with a 37-35 rebounding advantage. Pitt went 15-of-24 from the free throw line in the second half after failing to get to the line in the opening half of play. The Panthers continue to rank among the ACC leaders in free throw attempts and made free throws. Pitt led at the half [26-24] for the third time this season … improved to 2-1 when leading at the break. The Panthers have held five of their past six opponents to fewer than 60 points scored and are allowing just 57.8 points per game in that span. Pitt has held its past six opponents to 6.2 three-point field goal per game and 29.6 percent (37-of-125) shooting from beyond the arc. The Panthers’ opposition made 59 threes (9.8 3pg.) over the first six contests of the season. Hugley leads Pitt in scoring (14.5 ppg.), rebounds (8.1 rpg.), offensive rebounds (36), field goals (57), field goal attempts (130), free throws made (57) and free throw attempts (82). Hugley has gotten to the free throw line 55 times in the past seven games. He leads the league in free throws made (57) and free throw attempts (82), while shooting 69.5 percent from the charity stripe. Pitt is playing without its top five scorers from a season ago with a season-ending injury to Nike Sibande, a suspension of Ithiel Horton, the departure of Justin Champagnie to the NBA and two offseason transfers. Odukale (6.6 ppg.) and Hugley (5.1 ppg.) are the only returning players to average better than 5.0 points per game last season.