Virginia Cavaliers vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish Prediction, 12/30/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Virginia Cavaliers vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Date: Saturday, December 30, 2023

Location: Purcell Pavilion in Notre Dame, IN

TV: ESPN

Purcell Pavilion is where the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-7) will compete against the Virginia Cavaliers (10-2) on Saturday.

The Virginia Cavaliers took the court against Morgan State and took home the win by a score of 79-44 in their last contest. When talking about personal fouls, the Cavaliers ended up finishing with 9 and Morgan State racked up 10 personal fouls. They converted 5 out of their 12 attempts from beyond the perimeter. Morgan State finished shooting 60.0% from the charity stripe by knocking down 9 of 15 shots. Furthermore, Morgan State pulled down 29 rebounds (7 offensive, 22 defensive), but wasn't able to put a block in the stat sheet. Morgan State doled out 5 dimes and had 4 steals for this game. When discussing defending, Virginia let their opponent shoot 34.1% from the floor on 15 of 44 shooting. They also recorded 22 assists in the matchup as well as forcing 18 turnovers and earning 13 steals. In reference to grabbing rebounds, they compiled 36 with 14 of them being of the offensive variety. At the charity stripe, the Cavaliers converted 5 of 11 attempts for a rate of 45.5%. Virginia walked away from the contest having earned a 47.1% field goal percentage (32 of 68) and buried 10 of their 23 three-point shots.

Reece Beekman is one guy who came through for this game. He accounted for 17 points on 8 of 12 shooting. He saw the court for 30 minutes and also grabbed 2 boards. He finished the game at 66.7% from the field and dished out 7 dimes.

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Virginia will take the court with a win-loss mark of 10-2 for the campaign. They turn it over 8.6 times per game and as a group they are committing 13.3 personal fouls per contest. As a team, Virginia is snagging 33.1 rebounds per game and has tallied 193 dimes on the season, which is 74th in the nation in terms of passing. The Cavaliers are shooting 36.6% on 3-pointers (82 of 224) and 65.4% from the free throw line. They are averaging 66.8 pts per contest (329th in D-1) while shooting 45.6% from the field.

Defensively, the Cavaliers are forcing their opponents into 14.6 turnovers per game while drawing 14.6 fouls. They relinquish 28.1% on 3-pointers and they rank 3rd in D-1 in points per game allowed (54.5). The Cavaliers defensively are allowing a field goal percentage of 36.7% (234 of 637) and they relinquish 35.0 boards per game as a basketball team. They currently rank 52nd in Division 1 in giving up assists with 127 conceded on the campaign.

In their last game, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish got the victory with a final of 60-56 against Marist. Regarding rebounding, Notre Dame permitted Marist to collect 24 overall (8 on the offensive side). They finished shooting 33.3% from behind the 3-point line by shooting 5 out of 15 and ended up going 7 of 13 at the free throw line (53.8%). The Fighting Irish permitted Marist to make 22 out of 50 attempts from the field which gave them a rate of 44.0% in the matchup. When all was said and done, the Fighting Irish finished shooting 18 out of 44 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 40.9%. In regard to 3-point shots, Notre Dame buried 6 of their 16 tries (37.5%). They were able to knock down 18 of the free throws for a rate of 90.0%. Marist earned 15 fouls in the matchup which took the Fighting Irish to the charity stripe for a total of 20 tries. They coughed it up 15 times, while getting 6 steals for this contest. The Fighting Irish pulled down 21 defensive boards and 9 offensive rebounds for a total of 30 in the game.

Markus Burton ended up being a major contributor for the Fighting Irish for this contest. He buried 8 out of 18 for this contest giving him a field goal percentage of 44.4%, and had 3 rebounds. He tallied 21 points in his 33 minutes on the court and tallied 3 assists in this contest.

Notre Dame has a win-loss record of 5-7 this year. The Fighting Irish are responsible for committing 15.1 fouls per game while shooting 73.0% from the charity stripe. They are earning an assist 10.1 times per game (343rd in college basketball) and they turn it over 13.3 times per game. Notre Dame has tallied 751 pts on the year (62.6 per contest) and they collect 35.9 boards per contest. As an offensive team, the Fighting Irish are connecting on 39.4% from the field, which is 345th in the nation.

The Notre Dame defense allows 33.7% on shots from beyond the arc (83 of 246) and opponents are converting on 73.9% of their free throw shots. They give up 11.9 dimes and 34.3 rebounds on a nightly basis, which is ranked 128th and 150th in those categories on the defensive end. The Fighting Irish on the defensive end are ranked 83rd in the nation in points given up per game with 66.6. They have forced 11.4 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 42.6% from the floor (180th in college hoops).

Who will win tonight's NCAA basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Notre Dame

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