Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Connecticut Huskies on ESPN – Odds, Free Picks, and Predictions – Big East Basketball Betting 3/5/11: Guard Ben Hansbrough will lead the No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on the road to the Gampel Pavilion to take on guard Kemba Walker and the No. 16 Connecticut Huskies on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM ET on ESPN. The Huskies enter the game off a loss and after only winning 3 of their last 6 stand at 21-8, 9-8 – 9th in the Big East – while the Irish have won 3 in a row and 9 of their last 10 to come in at 24-5, 13-4 – 2nd in the Big East – just a game behind Pittsburgh with an outside shot at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
This Big East contest matches up the two leading candidates for Big East Player of the Year in Hansbrough and Walker. “I think if ever a year would justify being co-player of year, this would be the year,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “We have 11 teams surging toward the NCAA tournament, we have 16 teams in our league, which means we have a lot of good players. “Their freshmen were really kind of freshmen still when we played them and that was an advantage for us,” Brey said regarding the Irish earlier victory. “They’re not freshmen anymore.” The odds makers at BetUs have the Connecticut Huskies a -3 point favorite at home against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame is coming off a victory 93-72 at home over Villanova to move to 14-10 ATS for the season. Hansbrough led the way with 30 points and 10 assists while forward Tim Abromaitis added 30 points plus grabbed 4 rebounds and dished out 4 assists. Forward Tyrone Nash chipped in 11 points and pulled down 11 boards and rounding out the double digit scoring was forward Carleton Scott pouring in 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Notre Dame is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Connecticut. Vegas odds makers have the Notre Dame Fighting Irish +2500 to win the 2011 NCAA Championship.
The Huskies are coming off a loss 65-56 at the West Virginia Mountaineers moving them to 13-10 ATS overall and 6-5 ATS at home this season. Walker was the only starter to score in double figures with 22 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists while guard Shabazz Napier came off the bench to chip in 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in the loss. The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Connecticut’s last 8 games at home. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 138 ½ points combined of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Connecticut Huskies.
MATCHUP: No. 7 Notre Dame (24-5) at No. 16 Connecticut (21-8)
GAME TIME: 2:00 PM EST
TELEVISION: ESPN
Recent Notre Dame and Connecticut Betting Odds Trends:
Notre Dame: Under is 11-3 in NOTRE last 14 road games.
Over is 6-2 in NOTRE last 8 overall.
Over is 6-2 in NOTRE last 8 vs. Big East.
Connecticut: Under is 6-2 in UCONN last 8 home games.
Under is 8-3 in UCONN last 11 games as a favorite.
UCONN are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
NCAA Basketball Vegas Lines:
Favorite: Uconn -3
Total: O/U 137.5
* Morning Lines at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas
NSAwins Blog Writer Rich Fritz’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Connecticut Huskies Free NCAA Basketball Picks 3/5:
Play Notre Dame +3
Bet this play at BoDog Sportsbook and get a 100% BONUS upto $250 FREE!
Check out NSAwins.com daily in March for 2011 NCAA Tournament betting information including 2011 NCAA Tournament Betting Odds and 2011 expert picks on NCAA Tournament games to help you win your 2011 NCAA Tournament Office Pool Bracket picks!