The Louisville Cardinals are in South Bend, Indiana this evening to face the seventh ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The two conference rivals are scheduled to take the floor at Purcell Pavilion at 7:00pm ET. Tonight's Big East clash will be televised live on ESPNU. College Basketball Odds are favoring the Irish at -4 against the spread and -190 on the moneyline; the game total is set at 139.
Louisville rebounded from a January 31st 
62-59 loss at Georgetown with a 61-57 win over DePaul on Saturday night. The Cardinals, which went into the break tied 34-34 with the last place Blue Demons, were not overly impressive in the victory.
DePaul outshot Louisville from the field and beyond the arc, but Rick Pitino's squad attempted 18 free throws to the Blue Demons four. Despite their 66.7 percent effort from the charity stripe, the Cardinals 12 uncontested buckets proved enough to get the win.
Louisville (18-5) comes into tonight's game trailing Notre Dame by a half game in the Big East standings with a 7-4 conference record. The Cardinals are 2.5 games behind first place Pittsburgh, which they will play on February 27th.
Notre Dame reeled off its fifth straight win on Sunday, beating Rutgers 76-69 at the Purcell Pavilion to improve to 19-4 overall and 7-3 in league play. The Fighting Irish got another great performance from senior guard Ben Hansbrough, who led all scorers with 25 points. Hansbrough hit 11-of-13 from the free throw line and he also recorded six rebounds and five assists.
Notre Dame has dropped four of its last six games against the Cardinals; however, the Irish have won their last two at home against Louisville, including last February's 90-57 thrashing (+4 home underdog).
Louisville vs Notre Dame College Basketball Odds – February 9th, 2011:
Louisville Cardinals +4 (-110), Over 139 (-110), +160 (Moneyline)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish -4 (-110), Under 139 (-110), -190 (Moneyline)
