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Notre Dame tussles with ISU Friday night
By: Steve Bennett - StatFox
Published: 3/22/2013  at  4:24:00 AM
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IOWA STATE CYCLONES (22-11)

vs. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (25-9)

NCAA Tournament – Second Round
Dayton, OH
Tip-off: Friday, 9:45 p.m. ET
Line: Notre Dame -1.5, Total: 140

A couple of evenly-matched power conference schools meet up Friday night for a 7-10 game in the NCAA Tournament when Notre Dame battles Iowa State.

The seventh-seeded Irish have taken care of business of late, winning seven in a row SU and three in a row ATS as a favorite. They also pulled off an upset of Marquette in their second Big East Tournament game. Notre Dame was a seven-seed a year ago as well, dropping a close game to Xavier. Iowa State is an undersized, but athletic team who plays an up-tempo style. They won and covered in three straight before getting knocked off by Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals, but on the season, the Cyclones were just 1-9 SU and 3-7 ATS as an underdog. They made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005 last season, knocking off then-defending champ Connecticut with ease in an 8-9 game before falling to eventual champion Kentucky. The Irish are 2-6 in their past eight NCAA Tournament games and 10-19 ATS (35%) as a neutral-court favorite of 6 points or less under head coach Mike Brey.

Who will advance to the Round of 32? For the answer, connect to 2013 NCAA Tourney Picks for all the Expert picks throughout the entire tournament. The four StatFox experts begin the NCAA Tournament on quite a roll, going a collective 75% ATS (35-12-1) in the season's final four days and 67% ATS (67-33-2) since March 9, with StatFox Gary going 75% ATS (12-4), StatFox Brian posting a 68% ATS mark (19-9-1), StatFox Dave also at 68% ATS (17-8) and StatFox Scott winning 61% ATS (19-12-1) in those final nine days. Gary has a 68% ATS record (23-11) since Feb. 27 to improve to 56.1% ATS (110-86-4) for the entire college basketball season.

Notre Dame is a steady veteran team, efficient on offense and conservative but effective on defense, not creating many turnovers, but also not fouling often. Offensively, their backcourt of junior SG Jerian Grant (13.4 PPG, 5.6 APG) and junior PG Eric Atkins (11.4 PPG, 5.6 APG) have been the focus of the offense, with Grant averaging 14.5 PPG and 5.7 APG since February 1, and Atkins adding 10.9 PPG and 4.5 APG. However, the two have combined to shoot just 36.4% FG during that span. Sophomore wing Pat Connaughton (9.0 PPG, 37.5% threes) was on fire during the Big East Tournament, going for 16.0 PPG and hitting 62.5% of his threes. Notre Dame’s big edge will be on the interior, where PF Jack Cooley (13.1 PPG on 57.2% FG, 10.3 RPG) should be able to overpower the undersized Cyclones.

Iowa State has the kind of athletes on the perimeter that give Notre Dame fits. Wing Will Clyburn (15.0 PPG) figures to lead the way, while sixth man Tyrus McGee (13.2 PPG, 45.7% threes) has emerged as an elite deep threat, hitting 49.2% of his threes and averaging 15.3 PPG over the past 10 games. Their undersized frontcourt tandem of 6-foot-7, 245-pound Georges Niang (12.0 PPG, 50.7% FG, 38.9% threes), an inside-outside threat, and 6-foot-6, 230-pound Melvin Ejim (11.2 PPG, 9.3 RPG) will have to hold up against Cooley and company. The Cyclones have one of the weakest interior defenses in the tournament, but still rebound pretty well with a +4.7 RPG margin. ISU also leads the nation with 9.8 three-pointers made per game.


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