The Hurricanes don't have losing against ND in their budget.

Miami vs Notre Dame College Hoops Odds Guide

Written by on March 1, 2016

The streaking seventh-ranked Miami Hurricanes will look to keep their recent momentum going while completing the regular season sweep over ACC rival Notre Dame when the two teams square off on Wednesday night. With Miami recording consecutive wins over nationally-ranked opponents and Notre Dame suffering a surprising loss the last time out, let’s find out who’s going to bring home the bacon in this intriguing NCAA hoops lines pairing.

How To Bet The No. 7 Miami vs. Notre Dame NCAAB Odds & TV Info

When: Wednesday, March 2, 2016, 7:00 PM  ET Where: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center, South Bend, Indiana TV: ESPN2, ESPN3 Radio: WSBT TV Stream: WatchESPN NCAAB Odds: TBA

Why Bet The Miami Hurricanes

The Hurricanes (23-5 SU, 17-9-1 ATS) are a great bet to at least cover the spread in this contest because they’re playing their best basketball of the season at the best time possible. Miami has won two straight and seven of is last eight games including their convincing 73-65 beatdown of No. 11 Louisville as a 2.5-point home fave on Saturday. Miami held No. 11 Louisville without a point for nearly five minutes in the second half by forcing Louisville into nine straight missed field goal attempts. “Defense set the tone,” senior guard Angel Rodriguez said. “Once we started getting stops, it seemed like the basket opened up.” Rodriguez had a team-high 17 points, seven assists and five rebounds for the Hurricanes who completed a regular season sweep of their nine conference home games. Miami was down 56-51 with eight minutes remaining before Rodriguez took over. “From that moment on he was sensational, the best player at both ends of the court,” Larranaga said. Louisville coach Rick Pitino seconded that statement. “He’s a much different player than last year,” Pitino said. “Last year he was out of control, he was erratic, he was heavy. This year he is light and doing all the smart things. You’ve got to give credit to a player who turns around his body and his game like that.” The Canes are ranked 46th in the nation In points allowed as they limit the opposition to just 66.3 points per game while putting up 76.2 points per contest offensively (110th).

Why Bet The Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The previously 23rd-ranked Irish (19-9 SU, 12-13-1 ATS) are a good bet, mostly because they’re playing at home. Notre Dame has struggled in dropping two of their last three games including their overwhelming 77-56 road loss against Florida State as a 2-point road favorite no less. Demetrius Jackson had a team-high 13 points for Notre Dame while Zach Auguste added 12 points and 17 rebounds. The Fighting Irish were tied for 21st in the nation in field goal percentage (48.3 percent), but shot just 35.7 percent from the field and made just eight of their 27 field goal attempts in the second half. “As bad as we were in our ball-screen defense, they were excellent. … They blocked seven. And they changed probably six,” Irish coach Mike Brey said. “You can’t get any of those easies that kind of make you feel good. That demoralizes you. So I think it was a combination of their bigs and their guards on the point of attack.”
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Expert Pick & Final Score Prediction

While I’m expecting Notre Dame to come out with a renewed effort following their upset loss against Florida State, I fully believe that Miami is the right pick to win this contest and cover the spread as a likely slight road favorite. Miami is statistically the better team on both sides of the ball and they have a ton of momentum after beating No. 11 Louisville and No. 4 Virginia in their last two games. The Hurricanes are 4-1 ATS in their last five games and 6-2 ATS over their last eight. Notre Dame is 1-2 ATS over its last three games and simply doesn’t have the athleticism to complete with the surging Hurricanes. Miami beat Notre Dame 79-70 to cash in as a 5-point home favorite on February 3 and I believe a nearly identical outcome is in store for the Fighting Irish in this contest. My final score prediction: Miami 76 Notre Dame 68