Nova Report
The 3-0 Duquesne Dukes travel to Villanova to take on the 2-1 Wildcats at 8:00 pm eastern on Villanova’s campus. The game will be on TruTv.
This is the final game of the Villanova round robin which also included Sacred Heart and Queens. Nova is-10.5/149.5.
Duquesne beat Niagara by 20, Sacred Heart by 12 and Queens by 6 in OT. Villanova lost to #8 BYU by 5, beat Queens by 20 and Sacred Heart by 34. The Dukes definitely have some players and can throw 3 6’10” studs at you. They are led by 6’10” John Hugley (19.7 ppg, 9 boards and shoots 68%), Tarance Guinyard (18 ppg, shoots 82% from 2), Jakob Necas 6’10” shoots 80% from 2, Jimmie Williams and Maximus Edwards toss in 10 ppg. Overall, Duquesne shoots 68% from 2 and 27% from 3. Of note, this is their first road game. Overall, they like to get the ball inside on offense and prefer to let their opponents shoot from deep where they only allow 3’s at a 23.7% rate. They are good foul shooters but also commit a lot of fouls. They are also soft in allowing too many offensive boards.
Last out the Wildcats went crazy from 3. They made 22 beating their old record of 19. They also were one short of their assist record of 29. Expect some shooting regression from deep. Bryce Lindsay (24.7 ppg) made 9 3’s and Devin Askew (11.7 ppg) made 7. Overall the Cats shot 53.4% from deep. Duke Brennan leads the country at 15.5 boards per game. Matt Hodge and Acaden Lewis average 10 ppg. Nova allows an incredible 39.1% from 3. Once again, the Cats need to focus on defense and rebounding.
So we have Duquesne who almost exclusively scores from inside which is where Nova plays better D and can’t hit 3’s which is Nova’s defensive weakness. We have the Cats who shot lights out from 3 the last game, due to regress against a Duquesne team whose strength is guarding the 3. Duquesne has better size but maybe not as quick.
Expect Duquesne to try more 3’s tonight as they can’t shoot 27% forever plus Nova will yield wide open shots. Expect Villanova to drive the ball inside and try to get the Dukes to accumulate fouls. The Cats proved vs. Queens they can score most of their points from the inside. My guess is the total is about right at 149.5. Going with Nova to cover late.
Nova Pick: Villanova-10 (buying hook)
Nova Pick Record:2-1