Former Big East Rivals Meet in NCAA’s
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the West Virginia Mountaineers meet in the NCAA Tournament round of 32 on Saturday when they battle at Keybank Center. West Virginia is now playing in the Big 12 and Notre Dame is now in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Both teams had to grind out first-round victories. This set ups a meeting between the No. 4 and 5 seeds in the West region. Oddsmakers opened the Mountaineers as -3-point favorites versus the Fighting Irish, while the game’s total opened at 145. West Virginia is not a 2.5-point favorite while the total has climbed to 147. West Virginia was a 86-80 winner in their most recent outing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against the Buffalo Bison. They failed to cover the -13-point spread as favorites. They opened up an early 15-point lead and relied on their size and strength to hold off the Bisons. The scoring output was West Virginia’s highest in a March Madness game since 1982. Last time out for Notre Dame, they were a 60-58 winner in the first round against the Princeton Tigers. They failed to cover in the match as a -5.5-point favorite. Notre Dame has the lowest turnover rate in the country at 13.8 percent of possessions. They matched a school record for fewest turnovers in an NCAA Tournament game with only six against Princeton. It was the fewest points the Irish have ever scored in a March Madness victory.Betting Odds Trends
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish (26-9 SU,18-10-1 ATS) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games | ||
| Notre Dame is 9-2 SU in its last 11 games | ||
| The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Notre Dame’s last 8 games | ||
| Notre Dame is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing West Virginia | ||
| Notre Dame is 16-5 SU in its last 21 games when playing West Virginia | ||
| The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Notre Dame’s last 5 games when playing West Virginia | ||
West Virginia Mountaineers (27-8 SU,15-16-1 ATS) |
||
|---|---|---|
| West Virginia is 1-7-1 ATS in its last 9 games | ||
| West Virginia is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games | ||
| West Virginia is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Notre Dame | ||
| West Virginia is 5-16 SU in its last 21 games when playing Notre Dame | ||
| The total has gone UNDER in 5 of West Virginia’s last 5 games when playing Notre Dame | ||