Nova Report
The 4-1 Villanova Wildcats are on campus to take on the 3-4 Old Dominion Monarchs of the Sun Belt Conference. Gametime is 7:00 pm eastern on ESPN+. Nova is-21/145.
Old Dominion was picked for 5th in the Sun Belt but boasts the preseason Player of the Year in Robert Davis Jr. Their wins have been against Randolph, Norfolk St and Morgan St. They have lost at Miami Ohio, George Washington (by 23), Xavier (by 30) and recently at Drexel by 4.
They play a 4 guard offense with KC Shaw (14.2 ppg) and LJ Thomas (13.4 ppg, 60% fg), Robert Davis Jr (7.8 ppg) and Jordan Battle (10.6 ppg). Their 7 foot center is Caelum Stanton-Roger (7.6 ppg). They don’t take a lot of 3’s (but will tonight), are not good rebounders and are foul prone. They can play 9 deep and will this evening. The last time ODU beat Nova was in the NCAA Tournament in 1995, 89-81 in triple OT. ODU’s head coach played in that game as did one of the assistant coaches (who happens to be the father of Matt Hodge from Villanova). Of further concern is Bryce Lindsay of Nova played in the Sun Belt last year and Hodges father just may know how to defend against his son.
For the Cats, Matt Hodge IS their best 3 point shooter at 52% and averaging 12.6 ppg, Bryce Lindsay averages 20.0 ppg and shoots 50% from 3, Acaden Lewis tosses in 12.2 ppg, Duke Brennan averages 14.4 boards per game and 10.2 points. Perkins and Askew score just under 10 ppg. Nova is relatively healthy for the first time this year and we’ll see 9 players get a lot of minutes. Villanova has struggled defending the 3 and, at times, communicates poorly on defense. They’ve had a full week to practice getting better. We should see some improvement this evening.
The game plan for Nova will be to turnover ODU, go to the rim and pick up fouls and hold the Monarchs to one shot. For ODU, they’ll need to defend the 3 vigorously and crash the boards. This team is shooting about 25% from 3. Expect positive regression.
The Cats have not closed out games well so laying 21 points is a lot. My guess is the coaches have harped on this point so hopefully they will play with intensity for 40 minutes.
My Nova Pick: Villanova-21
Nova Pick Record:3-1-1