Nova Report
The 23-7 Villanova Wildcats are on campus to close out their regular season against the 14-16 Xavier Musketeers. Villanova is -11.5/153.5. Game tips at noon eastern on TNT.
The Big question is leading Xavier scorer at 18 ppg, Tre Carroll, is a game time decision to play after a hip injury 4 minutes into their last game vs.Seton Hall. He terrorized Nova in their February 17th game won by the Wildcats 90-87 in OT. It would make sense to sit him and get well for the Big East Conference Tournament on Wednesday. The line seems to suggest he’ll be on the bench.
The Musketeers are a 3 point shooting club who doesn’t make many turnovers but doesn’t create many turnovers either. They play at a fast pace, guard the perimeter well and are not a great rebounding team. Fans will tell you they can’t hold a lead either. After Carroll, they have a pretty equal distribution of scorers: Borovicanin 10.4 ppg, Messina-Moore 10.8 ppg, Milicivec 12.0 ppg, Anderson 10.9 ppg, Wright and N’Diaye 7 ppg. Milicevic and Wright shoot over 43% from 3. N’Diaye their 7 footer has averaged over 10 ppg in their last 3. One would have to believe that Milicivec and N’Diaye will pick up the slack if Carroll sits or isn’t 100%.
For the Wildcats, Malachi Palmer did a credible job replacing injured starter Matt Hodge. It’s Senior Day and expect Devin Askew and Duke Brennan to have stellar games in their final game on campus. Acaden Lewis will probably feed Brennan quite a bit on the pick and roll. Lindsay and Perkins will look for Askew from 3.
Capping this game not knowing if Carroll is playing is difficult. I’m making the heroic assumption he is sitting and playing Nova -11 (buying hook).
Nova Pick: Villanova -11 (bought hook)
Nova Pick Record: 15-14-1