The Virginia Tech Hokies and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish meet Saturday in college basketball action from Joyce Center. Virginia Tech is currently 14-10 after a loss to Boston College on Wednesday. As for Notre Dame, they’re 10-14 so far. The Irish lost to Georgia Tech in their Wednesday matchup. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Virginia Tech Hokies
Virginia Tech posted a pretty solid run through their first 16 games, going 11-5 overall. The Hokies are 3-5 in their last eight games, however. The losses in that stretch were to Syracuse, Virginia, Clemson, Miami-FL and Boston College.
Matched up against Boston College on Wednesday, the Hokies were down 39-27 going into the second half. Virginia Tech got better on a 49-43 second-half advantage but still lost 82-76. Lead team scorer Grant Basile put up 33 points in the defeat.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Over on the Notre Dame side, they had their ups and downs over the first 18 games of the year, going 9-9 overall. The Irish have lost five of six games since then to Florida State, Boston College, NC State, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech.
On Wednesday versus Georgia Tech, the Irish were within one point at halftime 38-37. Notre Dame didn’t get any closer than that in the end, falling 70-68. Nate Laszewski put up 16 points to lead the team and Dane Goodwin added 14 points.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’m leaning Notre Dame here but probably staying away. You could make a case for either team in this matchup. The Irish are on a rough run lately, going just 1-6 over the last seven outings. Notre Dame is still putting up some pretty decent offensive numbers though, with 68 or more points in six of those seven games. Virginia Tech is doing better lately themselves, going 3-2 over their last five with 68 or more points in each of those outings. At home I like the Irish slightly better cover-wise, but this should be a good game.