SMU vs Notre Dame Prediction 2/19/25 College Basketball Picks

The SMU Mustangs and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish meet Wednesday in college basketball action from the Purcell Pavilion. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s an SMU vs. Notre Dame prediction.

SMU Recap

The SMU Mustangs come into this game looking to bounce back from a 77-66 loss at the hands of Wake Forest last time out to fall to 19-6 on the year. After this game, SMU will meet Clemson, Cal, Stanford, Syracuse, and Florida State.

Mustangs Looking To Rebound After Having Five-Game Win Streak Snapped

Boopie Miller leads the Mustangs in scoring and assists with 13.4 PPG and 5.7 APG while Chuck Harris has 12.5 PPG and Matt Cross has 11.9 PPG with a team-high 8.2 RPG to lead the Mustangs on the glass up to this point in the year. B.J. Edwards has 10.3 PPG with 4.4 RPG and 3.8 APG along with 2.2 SPG. Samet Yigitoglu has 10.7 PPG with 6.5 RPG as well on the year. Karlo Oquendo has 10.3 PPG with 3.2 RPG to cap off the scoring in double figures for SMU so far this season. Yohan Traore has 7 PPG with 3.9 RPG. As a team, SMU is averaging 82.1 PPG on 47.8% shooting from the field, 38.2% from three, and 72.8% from the foul line this season.

Why the SMU Mustangs will win

• SMU has won eight of its last nine games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Notre Dame has lost four of its last five games.

Notre Dame Recap

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish come into this game looking to bounce back from a 75-60 loss at the hands of Louisville last time out to sit at 11-14 on the year. After this game, Notre Dame will welcome the Pitt Panthers to town.

Irish Lose 4 Of Their Last 5

Markus Burton has logged 21.3 PPG with 3.4 RPG and 3 APG in 18 games played so far this season while Tae Davis has 15.7 PPG with 5.5 RPG. Braeden Shrewsberry has 13.7 PPG with 3.1 RPG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Notre Dame so far this season. Matt Allocco has 9.4 PPG with 4.6 RPG and 3 APG and Kebba Njie also has 6.5 PPG with a team-high 6.4 RPG to lead Notre Dame in rebounding as well this season. As a team, Notre Dame is averaging 73.2 PPG on 45.5% shooting from the field, 36.5% from behind the arc, and 74.4% from the charity stripe this season.

Why the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will win

• Notre Dame has won six of its last seven night games against the Atlantic Coast Conference at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center.

Total Points Facts

• Each of Notre Dame’s last 10 night games against Conference opponents at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center have produced a total of 140 or fewer points.
• Eighteen of SMU’s last 22 night games have produced a total of 146+ points.

SMU vs. Notre Dame Prediction

I’m on SMU here. I get the case to be made for a home dog like Notre Dame and with how poor the ACC has been this season it feels like outside of the top 3 or maybe 4 teams, any team can beat anyone on any given night. However, I think that SMU is simply the better team here as Notre Dame is just Markus Burton and the occasional Tae Davis sighting and that’s been about it. SMU’s the more complete team from a talent perspective and I think the Mustangs get the job done with the win and cover here. Give me SMU.