Nova Report
The 18-5 Villanova Wildcats are on campus to play the 9-15 Marquette Golden Eagles. Tip is 7:30 pm eastern on TNT. Nova is -9.5/145.5.
These two played in Milwaukee on 1/12 with Villanova lucky to win: 76-73. The Cats had no answer for Nigel James Jr who scored a then career high 31 points and nailing 5-7 from 3. Royce Parnham had 17 and hit key shots for Marquette. It took a heroic performance by Nova’s Devin Askew who had 13 points all in the second half plus a wild missed shot by Chase Ross at the buzzer to try to send the game into OT. In that game, both teams bigs were saddled with foul trouble plus Acaden Lewis (star of Nova’s last game) had one of his worst games.
Since then, Marquette has played much better winning 3 of their last 5 and on a statistical basis playing more like a top 40 team. However, they’ve yet to win a Conference road game. They are led by Nigel James Jr. (15.5 ppg), Chase Ross (15.3 ppg), Royce Parnham (11.3 ppg), 6’11” Ben Gold (8.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg)) and Adrien Stevens (7.0 ppg). Coach Shaka Smart will play 10 deep with only Owens and Hamilton making meaningful contributions. They don’t shoot the 3 well but hit 10 3’s last game vs. Butler ( a 70-55 win). They typically protect the ball but do give up offensive rebounds. Defensively, they are average and will give up good looks to the Wildcats.
Villanova last game beat Georgetown in DC 80-73. Acaden Lewis took over the game to seal the win. If Nova could have made free throws, it would easily have been a double digit Victory. Bryce Lindsay, their top scorer, went scoreless that game and continues to be in a slump. However, Perkins and Brennan have been picking up the slack as well as the Nova bench.
Tonight, it will be another tough Big East match. Despite Marquette definitely playing better, they are playing a Villanova team who is definitely playing better. So, buying 1/2 point and backing the home team.
Nova Pick: Villanova-9 (buying 1/2 point)
Nova Pick Record: 12-10-1