Nova Report
The 12-3 Villanova Wildcats are in Milwaukee to battle the 6-10 Marquette Golden Eagles. Nova is -4.5/143.5. Tip is 2:30 Eastern on TNT. Marquette is coming off a tense 66-65 win over Xavier for their first win in a month. The Cats arrive off of a losing effort to Creighton, 78-74, where they were outshot, out rebounded and out coached. Creighton shooting 73% in the second half didn’t help.
Marquette plays mostly a 9 player rotation but are led by guards Chase Ross (16 ppg) and Nigel James (12.4 ppg). The most noteworthy player of the rest is 6’11” Gold at 8.7 ppg. This team has not shot the ball well: 29.5% from 3, 40% from 2. For reasons unbeknownst to anyone they miss a lot of layups. Clearly, their first Big East win will energize them and Coach Smart will notice the Cats weaknesses.
For Villanova, only Lewis had a good shooting day last out. Their sharpshooters, Lindsay, Perkins, Hodge and Askew were stone cold vs. Creighton. Coach McDermott from Creighton locked down Nova’s leading scorer Lindsay and exploited Nova’s lack of rebounders. Twice now (vs. DePaul and Creighton) shooters exploited their lack of size in the paint. Smart will run plays for this and also attempt to foul out Brennan. The only silver lining for Nova is Marquette doesn’t shoot as well as either Creighton or DePaul.
On the Cats ledger, playing zone will force Marquette to shoot from past their comfort zone. Additionally, the Cats 3 point shooting quartet won’t be quiet for two straight games. Lastly, Coach Willard will have taught them that rebounding is more than boxing out. You have to go for the ball. I wouldn’t be surprised if Marquette is ahead at half. But Willard will make adjustments and Villanova will get a lot of clean looks from 3 In the second half. Feeling pretty good about Nova covering.
Nova Pick: Villanova-4 (have to buy OMR a hooker)
Nova Pick Record:8-6-1