Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-14) vs. Pittsburgh Panthers (13-8)
February 3, 2024 6:00 pm EDT
The Line: Pittsburgh Panthers -11 ; Over/Under: 126.5
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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Pittsburgh Panthers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Petersen Events Center. Notre Dame is fresh off a Wednesday matchup with Virginia. In that one the Irish dropped to 7-14 with a loss. As for Pittsburgh, they played Wake Forest in their latest outing. The 13-8 Panthers went on to power out a five-point win. Let’s get into our Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The Irish went a sketchy 6-7 over their first 13 games this year. The wins in that time were over Niagara, Oklahoma State, MD-Eastern Shore, Western Michigan, Marist and Virginia. Notre Dame lost to NC State, Duke, Florida State, Boston College (twice) and Miami over the next seven games.
On Thursday versus Virginia, the Fighting Irish went into the break down 38-23. Notre Dame got slightly better from there on a 30-27 second half but still limped to a rough loss 65-53. Markus Burton was the team’s leading scorer on 17 points, four assists and four steals.
Pittsburgh Panthers
Over on the Panthers’ side, they only lost to Florida, Missouri and Clemson over their first 12 games this year. Pittsburgh went 3-5 in the next eight games with wins over Louisville, Duke and Georgia Tech mixed in alongside losses to Syracuse (twice), North Carolina, Duke and Miami.
Matched up against Wake Forest in the Thursday game, the Panthers were in trouble at halftime with a 37-27 deficit. Pittsburgh got it going from there on a 50-35 run however, taking the comeback win 77-72. Carlton Carrington was tops on 24 points, and Ishmael Leggett (bench) added 22 points.
ANDREW’S FREE NOTRE DAME VS PITTSBURGH PREDICTION
I’ll stick with Pittsburgh. The Panthers are coming off a nice comeback victory over Wake Forest on Wednesday, shooting 45.6 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from 3-point range. That makes 68 or more points in four straight games (and 72 or more in three of those) for Pittsburgh, a 3-1 stretch.
As for Notre Dame, they’re flailing right now and haven’t scored more than 61 points in any of the last five games (all losses). The Irish have actually been pretty solid defensively during that time, but Pittsburgh should still have plenty of scoring opportunities on Saturday.
