It’s hard to believe that we have almost reached the end of another Cardinal basketball season. There are two games left and both are at the Yum Center. Both games will be great teams. First up is Notre Dame on Wednesday night. They are predicting a winter storm for our area but the action will be hot when the Irish and Cardinals renew their rivalry. Louisville leads this series 20-12 and has won 15 of the last 20. But here’s the real story in this rivalry. Eight of the last 15 games have been decided in overtime. I know you remember some of these crazy back and forth battles and you can almost bet that we’ll see another one on Wednesday night. At least this one will be a 7:00 start so we won’t get to bed that late. Both of these teams have secured their spots in the tourney and this game will be about bettering their seeds and getting that double bye in Greensboro next week. Notre Dame is 12-4 in conference play and ranked 3rd in the ACC. Louisville is 11-6 in conference play ranked 4th in the ACC.

COACH PITINO TALKS ABOUT NOTRE DAME GAME

Notre Dame has had eight days to prepare for this one since losing their last game against Syracuse. They have won three of their last four. They are averaging 79 points a game on 50.8% shooting from the field, and 39.4% shooting from the three. They are averaging 8.6 three-pointers a game. They are led by Jerian Grant (16.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 6.6 apg), Pat Connaughton (13.1 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.5 agp) Zach Auguste (12.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 0.7 apg), Demetrius Jackson (12.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.9 apg), and Steve Vasturia (9.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.8 apg). Five Fighting Irish players are averaging at least 9.2 points per game this season.

On defense Notre Dame is holding their opponents to an average of 65.4 points a game on 42.5% shooting. The Fighting Irish average 6.8 steals a game and have a turnover margin of 2.1. Notre Dame is ranked 27th in the RPI Standings and has played the 126th ranked SOS.

Notre Dame’s 2014-15 Overall Rankings Offense | Defense

Notre Dame 2014-15 Kenpom Rankings
Overall- #18
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-101.2 ranks 150th
Offense Adjustment Efficiency
-120.1 ranks 4th
-Per Kenpom’s game prediction he has Louisville winning the game 71-66 based on his indexes.

Our Cardinals have won three straight heading into this battle with Notre Dame. They are averaging 70 points a game on 43.1% shooting from the field and 30.9% shooting from the three. The Cards are led by the big three Terry Rozier (17.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.7 apg), Montrezl Harrell (15.4 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 1.2 apg) and Wayne Blackshear (10.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.3 apg). The bench is coming around and stepped up big during the last game to the tune of 22 points. Chinanu, Anton, and Quentin are averaging 8.9 points, and 7.3 rebounds.

Defensively the Cardinals average 11.8 turnovers per game and grab 13.07 offensive rebounds a game. They are holding their opponents to an average of 58.9 points a game on 38.1% shooting. The Cardinals average 8.3 steals a game and 5.8 blocks a game. The defensive effort has really improved over the last three games and they have held their last three opponents to an average of 54.3 points.

Our Cardinals are going to need all of the offense and defense they can get on Wednesday night. The Irish are one of the best scoring teams in the country and can really light it up when they get on a roll. I think our guys will have an athletic advantage in the post with Montrezl and on the perimeter with Rozier. If Wayne plays like he has been then they will also have trouble with him on the wing. Hopefully Chinanu, Anton and Quentin will continue to build upon their last couple of outings as well. I would like to see Shaqquan find his groove in one of these last games of the season as I feel we will need him for the tourney run. In the tourney games especially the conference tourney the more subs the better with so little down time between games.

This is one of the tougher games on our schedule because Notre Dame is well coached and they play so well on both ends of the floor. It is always a great battle when these teams meet and I don’t expect anything different this time. I think our Cards are finding their rhythm at the right time and they have their eye on the prize. They will win this battle.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 80 Notre Dame 73