ACC Tournament: Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Virginia Tech Hokies Betting Preview
On the opening day of the ACC Tournament, the 11th and 14th seeds will square off as the Virginia Tech Hokies take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The winner of this will get NC State on Wednesday. This game is being played at the Greensboro Coliseum, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 pm ET.
Virginia Tech is the heavy favorite in this one. They are -320 to win, while the Irish’s moneyline sits at +240. The spread features Notre Dame as 6.5-point underdogs (-102), and the over/under for total points is 143.5.
Notre Dame Looks For Upset Over Hokies
While both of these teams are longshots to make it far in the ACC Tournament, the Irish come into this one with the second-worst record at 11-20 and just 3-17 in the conference. They will try to shock the Hokies, despite the fact that they haven’t won a game this year that wasn’t on their own court.
These two matched up just a little under a month ago, when Virginia Tech won 93-87 despite playing at Notre Dame. For the Irish, Nate Laszewski tied a game-high in points with 33, but it still wasn’t enough to pick up the win.
As a unit, the Irish rank 205th in scoring, averaging 69.8 points per game (64.7 away from home). They are led by Laszewski, who is averaging 14 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game.
Other contributors for the Irish include Cormac Ryan (12.1 points, four rebounds, 2.5 assists), Dane Goodwin (11.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists), and J.J. Starling (11.2 points). Unfortunately for Notre Dame, Starling is questionable for Tuesday’s game with a knee injury.
Virginia Tech Looks To Keep Win Streak Alive
While the Hokies had a subpar year in the conference, they did finish the regular season with back-to-back wins over Louisville and Florida State. They will try to take that momentum into the ACC Tournament as they take on Notre Dame.
Virginia Tech has shown the ability to pull off some big wins. They took down No. 13 Virginia and No. 21 Duke, but they struggled with consistency.
Defensively, the Hokies rank 131st in the nation, allowing opponents an average of 69.1 points per game.
On the offensive side, they rank 93rd in the nation, averaging 74.4 points per game. Senior forward Grant Basile leads the offense, averaging 16.5 points on 51.9% shooting. He is also pulling down 5.5 rebounds per game.
Aside from Basile, SeanPedulla (15.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists), Justyn Mutts (12.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists), and Hunter Cattoor (10.8 points, 3.9 rebounds) have all had strong years.
Take The Hokies To Win And Cover
Notre Dame comes into this one having gone 4-2 against the spread in their last six games. In their last nine, though, they have gone just 1-8 straight up and 1-4 against the spread in their last five versus the Hokies.
With Notre Dame’s struggles this season, don’t expect these trends to change in this one. Expect Virginia Tech to move on to face NC State, and expect them to do it with relative ease.
Take Virginia Tech -6.5 (-120).
