Notre Dame vs California Prediction 3/8/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The California Golden Bears and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish meet Saturday in college basketball action from Joyce Center. Here’s a Notre Dame vs California prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Notre Dame vs California pick.

California Golden Bears Betting Preview

The Golden Bears have a couple of good runs in the books so far this year. Outside of that however, it’s been a rough season. California opened on a 6-1 record with a lone loss to Vanderbilt in that time. Losses to Missouri, Stanford Cornell, San Diego State, Pittsburgh, Clemson, Virginia Tech and North Carolina (with wins over Northwestern State and Virginia) came in the next 10 games, though. Cal would hit a 4-2 run over the next half dozen with wins over NC State, Florida State, Miami and NC State again alongside losses to SMU and Syracuse. Since then it’s been a lone win over Boston College among losses to Wake Forest, Duke, Georgia Tech, Stanford, SMU and Louisville. In total across 30 games so far that gives the Golden Bears a sketchy 13-17 record overall.

In the Louisville road matchup on Wednesday, the Golden Bears came out of halftime with a 41-26 deficit. California didn’t end up getting any closer on a 44-42 second half and took the eventual loss 85-68 in the end. Topping the scorers during the losing effort was Jovan Blackshear with 22 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jeremiah Wilkinson added 11 points with two rebounds, one assist and one steal as the only other player on the team to reach double-figures. Mady Sissoko chipped in eight points with 13 rebounds, and DJ Campbell led the bench players with six points, two rebounds and two steals.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Betting Preview

Over on the Notre Dame side, they’ve had similar outcomes so far this year with a couple of decent runs plagued otherwise by futility. The Fighting Irish won their first four before losses to Elon, Rutgers, Houston, Creighton and Georgia. After wins over Syracuse, Dartmouth and Le Moyne in the next trio, the Irish lost to Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State and Duke over the next quartet. A 3-4 run came next with wins over Boston College, Virginia and Georgia Tech among losses to Syracuse, Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech. Since then it’s been a 3-4 run again with wins over Boston College, Pitt and Stanford among losses to Louisville, SMU, Clemson and Wake Forest. In total the Irish have a 13-17 overall record this year as well.

Matched up against Stanford in their Wednesday home game, the Irish held a 24-21 deficit by the end of the first half. Notre Dame got better from there on a 35-30 second-half run though, taking the comeback win 56-54 in the end. The team’s only double-digit scorer was Markus Burton with 24 points, seven rebounds, one assist and one steal. Tae Davis got close with nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and one steal. Tops off the bench was Matt Allocco with seven points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes of work.

Why the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will win

• California has lost seven of its last eight road games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• The home team has won each of Notre Dame’s last four games.
• California has lost the first half in seven of its last eight road games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Why the California Golden Bears will win

• Notre Dame has lost each of its last four games following a home win.
• Notre Dame has lost the first half in three of its last four home games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Notre Dame vs California Prediction

I’ll lean toward Notre Dame here, but it’s a coin flip. The Irish took out a pretty good Stanford team in their latest matchup despite hitting just 35.4 percent from the field and 15-of-25 (60 percent) from the line. Notre Dame held the Cardinal to just 33.3 percent shooting on the other side in a defense-heavy matchup. The 56 points were the lowest since scoring just 48 in a road loss to Georgia back on December 3, but it was a much-needed win.

As for California, they’re coming off a bad loss to Louisville with just 29.6 percent shooting from the field. The Bears did pretty well otherwise, but they’ve now given up 71 or more points in three straight games. Notre Dame should be in control at home here, however I’m probably staying away.