Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs South Florida Bulls | Preview & Predictions

COLLEGE BASKETBALL – TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2010

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-3) vs. South Florida Bulls (10-3)

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame will invade the Sun Dome on Tuesday as they take on the South Florida Bulls in Tampa Bay, Fl.

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The Irish knocked off the Bulls 67-57 the last time the two teams met on Feb 15, 2009 and have won four of the last five meetings going back to 2006.

The Irish had their four-game winning streak snapped falling to No. 10 UConn 82-70 on Saturday night for the fifth time in the last six meetings. Luke Harangody scored 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the loss. Ben Hansbrough, brother of former North Carolina star forward Tyler, had 14 points and Tyrone Nash added 11 in the first true road game of the season for Notre Dame. It’s no secret the Irish performs best at home, as all three of their losses have come on the road this season. So the upcoming game against the Bulls will critical in establishing some sort of ability to win against Big East teams away from South Bend as the they play three of their first four conference games on the road.

Louisville defeated South Florida 73-52 on Wednesday night in the Big East opener for both teams. The Bulls shot a pitiful 38 percent, and turned the ball over 21 times, while making just 13 of 27 free throws. Toarlyn Fitzpatrick led South Florida with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. Bulls star guard Dominique Jones fouled out with 12:52 remaining, contributing just five points, and a long way from his of average of 17.5 ppg. The Bulls have been playing shorthanded, with a roster of only eight players; their defense has been making up the difference. The Bulls have not given up more than 73 points this season and rank fourth in the conference. They will be even shorter with the loss of leading scorer forward Gus Gilchrist going down for at least a month.

The odds makers have the Bulls as +1-point underdogs in this one.

The Bulls haven’t fared well since joining the Big East in 2005 and a win against Notre Dame will give them as many wins this season as their overall record of 11-58. They will need to slow down the Irish’s Harangody abd turn up their offense. You can’t win games against Big East opponents shooting below 50 percent.

Expect the Irish to get their first road victory of the season in this one.