Notre Dame looks to improve their stance in the NCAA Tournament when they travel to Louisville on Saturday afternoon. The Irish are currently a 5 seed in the big dance, which is pretty interesting considering they're the second-best team in the ACC in terms of conference record. The Cardinals find themselves one game back among Duke and Florida State. Notre Dame has won the last three meetings against Louisville. Tipoff is set for 2:00 PM Eastern time and this contest can be seen on CBS, CBSSports.com, and the CBS Sports app.
No. 19 Notre Dame (23-7, 12-5 ACC)
The Irish are coming in booming with six consecutive wins. Their latest was an 82-66 thumping of Boston College back on Wednesday. Both teams hit nine 3-pointers, but the Eagles suffered 15 turnovers and couldn't match up to ND hitting 47.1 percent of their shots. Should they win the regular season finale, they'll clinch the 2 seed in the ACC tournament.
Senior forward V.J. Beachem (15.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg) has been hot as of late. He had a team-high 22 points against BC and has recorded 16 or more points in three of his last four games. Junior forward Bonzie Colson (16.9 ppg, 10.6) notched his second double-double with 18 points and 11 boards.
No. 8 Louisville (23-7, 11-6 ACC)
The deterioration of the Cardinals' defense has played a role in its latest struggles. It's given up 78.4 points on average in the last five games, which is a big jump from the season average of 65.4 points (38th nationally). For them to be a threat in the postseason, they'll have to fix that.
Their struggle continued when they allowed Wake Forest to hit 46.4 percent of their shots and make 10-of-24 3-point attempts. Louisville also fouled very frequently, which let their opponent convert 26-of-36 free throws. On the bright side, sophomore forward Deng Adel (11.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg) has stepped up offensively with 17 points or more in the last two games.
Louisville is favored by 8 points and the O/U is set at 146.5 points. They are 17-10-1 against the spread this season -- it's an even better 11-4 at home.
