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This Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh College Basketball betting preview is courtesy of Sportsbook.com (check them out here).
Line/Total: Pittsburgh -11 & 136.5
Pittsburgh goes for its 10th straight victory, and eighth win in a row in Big East play, when it hosts Notre Dame in a matchup of two Top 20 teams.
There is no tougher venue to visit in-conference than Petersen Events Center, which doesn’t bode well for a Notre Dame team that is 0-3 on the road, losing by 12, 22 and 18 points. The Irish are scoring a meager 56.3 PPG on 41.1% FG in these three contests. They have made an excellent 36.9% of their three-pointers this year, but that number dips to 24.6% in seven games when they leave South Bend. Ben Hansbrough is big reason for this discrepancy, with 18.8 PPG and 46% three-pointers at home, compared to just 13.0 PPG and 27% three-pointers on the road. Hansbrough pumped in 28 points in Saturday’s 80-75 win over Marquette to increase his team-best scoring average to 16.4 PPG this season.
Pittsburgh has been absolutely dominant in Big East play with a 5-2 ATS mark, outscoring conference foes by 14.5 PPG. The Panthers are out-shooting their Big East opponents 49.1% to 38.8% FG, and hold a rebounding margin of +9.3 RPG in conference games. In the past three contests, Pittsburgh has an incredible +17.7 RPG margin, thanks to Gary McGhee who has three straight 10-rebound games, including a career-high 15 boards in Saturday’s 80-50 blowout win at DePaul. Pittsburgh has held every opponent under 45% FG during its nine-game win streak due to head coach Jamie Dixon’s frequent substitutions. The Panthers have great balance with six players averaging at least 7.0 PPG and nine players averaging 12+ minutes per game with only one logging over 30 minutes per contest -- 31.3 MPG for leading scorer Ashton Gibbs.
