Orange vs Fighting Irish NCAAB Handicapping Prediction
Syracuse (20-0) is not on the top-ranked team in the nation, but they are off to their best start in school history and will be taking on a Notre Dame (11-8) squad that has lost 2 straight games and is only 3-3 in the Big East.
Venue/ Stadium: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center, South Bend, IN
Time/Date: 6 PM EST Saturday, January 21, 2011
NCAA Odds From: BetOnline
Moneyline: OFF
Spread (ATS): Syracuse -9
Over/Under: 134
No. 1 Syracuse Orange vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Preview
The Fighting Irish recently had their 29-game home winning streak snapped and to avoid losing back-to-back home games for the first time since 2009 they will have to beat the Orange tonight. NCAAB lines have Syracuse as 9-point away favorites with a total of 134.
In their last games Syracuse beat Pitt 71-63 and Notre Dame lost to Rutgers 65-58.
This season Syracuse is 13-6 ATS with an O/U record of 9-9-1 and Notre Dame is 3-8-2 ATS with an O/U record of 3-10.
Notre Dame will have to play solid D in this game, as they only rank 162nd in the nation in scoring while Syracuse ranks 16th.
Syracuse is led by Kris Joseph (13.7 ppg) and Dion Waiters (13.1 ppg), but they have many scoring options being a very deep team with at least 7 players averaging 7 ppg.
One player the Irish really have to worry about is 7′ C Fab Melo (7.2 ppg 5.7 rpg), as they cannot allow the big man to dominate the paint.[soliloquy id=”82219″]
It is important that Notre Dame shoots the rock well and scores, as they are 0-3 in Big East play when they do not score at least 60 points. Their leading scorer is Tim Abromaitis and he is out for the season with an ACL injury and Eric Atkins (13.3 ppg) and Jerian Grant (12.8 ppg) must play better than they did against Rutgers where they only combined to go 8/24 from the floor.
The Orange are a very athletic team that can get out and run and the Irish must try to slow the tempo of the game. Also, Jack Cooley (10.4 ppg 8.3 rpg) must play well, especially on the boards and give the Irish some inside scoring.
Betting Trends
Syracuse is 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games overall, 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games as a road favorite of 7.0-12.5 points, and they have an Over record of 4-0 in their last 4 road games.
Notre Dame is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games following a S.U. loss, 2-5-2 ATS in their last 9 home games, and they have an Under record of 8-0 in their last 8 home games.
The favorite is 5-0 ATS in the last 5 games between these 2 Big East rivals.
Jason’s Pick: Hard to go with any team giving 9-points in an away game in the tough Big East, but have to go with the Orange in this game, as the Irish lost to UCONN at home recently by 14 and Syracuse is a better team than the Huskies.
