Carnesecca Arena at St. John's is the site for the Big East matchup between the Red Storm and the Irish of Notre Dame. Play the Irish.
When Notre Dame has had problems this season, it's been on the road against big, bruising rebounding teams. Against both Georgetown and Villanova, it was size and strength on the boards, and some great shooting that came along with all those second chances, that did the Irish in.
Tuesday night, one of those two factors is in play: Notre Dame will be on the road again, this time against St. John's. The Red Storm are actually quite big. Seniors LaMont Hamilton and Aaron Spears are 6-10 and sophomore Anthony Mason Jr. is 6-7 while freshman Qa'rraan Calhoun has seen more minutes of late and is 6-8.
For some reason, though, this size hasn't translated to good rebounding. While St. John's is a pretty tough defensive team, Ken Pomeroy has them rated as the nation's 201st-best offensive-rebounding-efficiency team (taking pace of play into account), and the nation's 225th-best defensive-rebounding-efficiency team. That's sweet music to the ears of the four guys on Notre Dame's front line who are 6-8 or taller.
It's definitely not that the Irish have an elite front line, not by any measure. They make their bones by shooting extraordinarily well, by playing solid defense, and by rebounding enough. The Red Storm will probably try and do what Georgetown did to Notre Dame and zone them up hoping they miss a lot of shots in an unfamiliar gym. Heck, St. John's is coming off their biggest victory of the season, a four-point home victory against Syracuse, and they've also toppled DePaul at home.
But where St. John's is mercurial, Notre Dame is steady, so long as their shooters show up. The Red Storm have a hangover after Sunday's emotional win, and the Irish knock down enough shots to win on the road. I'll take Notre Dame to win on the road at St. John's.
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Brian Gabrielle: Irish -4½ at Storm
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