Nova Report
It?s Cats and Dogs tonight at the Hartford XL Center. #21 UCONN is -2.5/137.5 over the #8 Villanova Wildcats for the 8:00 pm eastern tip. Nova bested the Huskies 2 weeks ago 85-74 in Philly. Since then, UCONN is coming off a solid win vs. Xavier while Nova, exhausted from a road win at Providence, barely got by doormat Georgetown.
UCONN is 12-2 at home and, as you know, lower ranked teams favored over higher ranked teams are 58% against the spread. Throw in that a Jay Wright team has never swept a UCONN club and it looks bleak for the ?Cats.
The public is buying in on Nova but the sharp bettors are loading up on UCONN. The computer models mostly have the Huskies winning by one.
UCONN is led by RJ Cole (16.2 ppg) and big man Adama Sonogo, a shot block machine. Add in Tyrese Martin and you have a pretty good defensive nucleus. Last game vs. Nova, Sonogo got into early foul trouble which hurt the Huskies.
For the Cats, Gillespie, coming off of a career game vs. Providence, shot poorly last out. He should bounce back this evening. However, it will be Eric Dixon who the Cats will need to slow down Sonogo.
What Will Happen: UCONN will go early and often down low to Sonogo as they saw Watson for Providence have his way vs Nova. They probably will force the pace to test the sore ankles of Gillespie and Moore. They will also concentrate on taking care of the ball more so than they did vs Xavier last out. Nova won?t change. They?ll try to get their guards and Dixon to build up fouls on Sonogo. They?ll play their post up kick out offense and shoot their share of 3?s.
My Nova Play: The Wildcats really want to win the Big East title. 3 teams stand in there way. UCONN is playing for confidence and a better NCAA seed. This literally should be a dog fight. Taking Nova/Over in a 5 point teaser.
Nova+7.5/Over 132.5
Nova Pick Record: 11-15-1