Nova Report
The 21-5 Villanova Wildcats are in Philadelphia to take on 24-3 #5 UCONN Huskies. Tip is 5:30 pm eastern at the Xfinity Mobile Arena on TNT. UCONN is -2.5/140.5.
The two teams met in Connecticut on 1/24 with the Huskies winning in OT 75-67. In that game, Nova’s starting guards, Lewis and Lindsay, went 1 for 21. It should be noted that Braylon Mullins for UCONN was inadvertently whacked in the face in the first half and missed the rest of the game. It’s likely these three will have some extra motivation tonight.
UCONN has been uncharacteristically lax on defense their last 4 games giving up an average of 80 points. They lost Wednesday to Creighton in Connecticut 91-84. Coach Hurley has no doubt focused totally on defense since then. He said coaches are smart, they’re attacking our worst defenders. He may not start Ball and Karaban due to their performance vs Creighton. Karaban may have a nagging injury. We’ll see if he still does.
Villanova forgot how to play defense in their last Tuesday game but they survived in OT beating Xavier (and the refs) 92-89. In that game, Bryce Lindsay broke out of his slump going 3 for 5 from deep. So we have the two best defensive teams in the Big East coming in not playing defense well.
For UCONN, Braylon Mullins has been on fire lately (scored 25 vs Creighton). Solo Ball, their leading scorer at 14.4 ppg, has been up and down lately. Silas Demary, 11.5 ppg, 45% from 3, has looked pretty good. The tag team of 6’11” Tarris Reed and 7’1”Eric Reibe have been formidable on the boards. Last game Hurley played Malachi Smith and Jaylin Stewart more to try to get defensive energy.
For Villanova, Brennan had yet another double double last game and probably needed an ice bath after the game as he was continually beat up by Xavier. Lewis was beyond awesome and has been since the last UCONN game. Perkins continues to amaze. Askew is now in a slump but Hodge and Palmer are scoring well.
Tonight, it will be the interior defense for both clubs that will dictate the outcome. For sure, Nova needs to start quickly to get the crowd into the game. They need to create turnovers, limit UCONN to one shot and get the Huskies to foul them. UCONN needs to guard the perimeter but at the same time execute interior help defense as both Perkins and Lewis like to attack the rim.
Many handicappers view this as a bounce back game for UCONN ( note St Louis last night) and are backing the Huskies. In fact, 80% of bets in Draft Kings favor UCONN. To me, it means back Villanova.
Nova Pick: 5 point teaser Nova+7.5/Over 135.5
Nova Pick Record.13-12-1