Cincinnati Bearcats at Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Joyce Center, South Bend, IN
Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 7:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN2
Opening Line: Notre Dame -3.5
Current Line: Notre Dame -4
Opening Total: 130
Current Total: 131
Money Line: Notre Dame -165 / Cincinnati +145
The 16th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-4, 3-3 Big East) will be happy to be back home at the Joyce Center when they host the 25th-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats (16-2, 3-2) in a key conference battle on Wednesday. The Irish (-4) have gotten blown out in their last two league games on the road but bring a perfect 11-0 home record into this matchup as they look to hand the Bearcats their third loss in four games following a 15-0 start.
Notre Dame is coming off a rough 72-54 loss at St. John’s on Sunday, which came after a 79-57 setback at Marquette last Monday. Poor three-point shooting contributed to both losses, as the Irish combined to make 6 of 31 from beyond the arc. They also turned the ball over a season-high 20 times against the Red Storm and could face similar issues against a Cincinnati team that ranks first in scoring defense at 56.2 points per game and fourth in turnovers forced with 16.2.
However, the Bearcats need to figure out a way to get back on track after dropping their first two Big East road games by a combined 26 points. They lost 67-52 at previously unbeaten Syracuse on Saturday and failed to take advantage of the loss of Orange leading scorer Kris Joseph to a head injury in the first half. They surrendered a 16-0 run to start the second half after trailing 35-31 at halftime and never was able to get within double digits the rest of the game.
Dion Dixon led Cincy with 18 points against Syracuse, all on 3-pointers. Dixon made 6 of 12 shots overall and also had two rebounds, two assists and three steals. Sean Kilpatrick was the only other Bearcat to score in double figures with 11 points. Cincinnati made just 18 of 59 shots from the field (30.5 percent) and was outrebounded by 10 (35-25).
The Bearcats lost 83-65 at Notre Dame a year ago and have failed to cover the spread in five of the last six meetings despite winning two of the past three straight-up. The OVER is 3-1 in the last four games between the teams, although the UNDER is trending for both teams recently overall.
The UNDER is 4-1-1 in the last six games for the Irish and 7-1 in Cincinnati’s last eight. Notre Dame is also 1-4 against the spread in its last five games overall while the Bearcats have failed to cover three straight.
Now that you have read this Big East college basketball betting preview featuring Notre Dame & Cincinnati, check out the NCAA basketball odds on this and all the games to compare the best lines at multiple sportsbooks.
