Notre Dame vs Wake Forest Pick – Basketball Predictions & Odds 2/4/23

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish meet Saturday in college basketball action from Joyce Center. Wake Forest is sitting at 14-9 overall. The Deacons took a close loss to Duke on Tuesday. As for Notre Dame, they’re currently 10-12 following a win over Louisville last weekend. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Wake Forest went 11-5 over their first 16 games, losing to LMU, Clemson, LSU, Rutgers and North Carolina. The Demon Deacons are 0-4 in their last four outings with losses to Virginia, Pittsburgh, NC State and Duke in that time. 

In the Duke game on Tuesday, the Deacons were down 41-34 going into the second half. Wake Forest posted a 39-34 run from there but still took the loss 75-73. Tyree Appleby was the lead team scorer on 27 points and five boards. 

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Over on the Notre Dame side, they lost to St. Bonaventure, Syracuse, Marquette, Georgia, Florida State, Miami-FL, Boston College and North Carolina in their first 16 games. The Irish are 2-4 since then with wins over Georgia Tech and Louisville. 

Matched up against Louisville last weekend, the Irish stormed out to a 46-24 lead by the break. Notre Dame was outscored 38-30 from there in a 76-62 victory. JJ Starling scored 22 points and Dane Goodwin doubled on 10 points and 10 rebounds. 

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll probably stick with Notre Dame. This should be a pretty good matchup overall though, so you could make a case either way. That said, both teams could use a quality showing here. Notre Dame has scored well during this current 2-4 stretch, with 71 or more points in all six outings. Wake Forest has hit 67 or more points in 11 straight games themselves, so this has the makings of a shootout on paper. I like a close, back-and-forth matchup most of the way, with the Irish eventually pulling off the home cover/win.