Nova Report
The 22-7 Villanova Wildcats are in Chicago to play the 16-13 De Paul Blue Demons. Tip is 8:00 pm eastern on Peacock. Villanova is -2.5/135.5.
Big game for both clubs. A win for DePaul will get them a first round bye in the Big East Conference Tournament. Additionally, it would give them their 9th Big East win, something no other Blue Demon team has achieved. For Villanova, they are projected a #7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and need to win to retain that seed or, if they keep winning, maybe get a #6 seed. Their other issue is they lost a starter, Matt Hodge, to an ACL tear. Coach Willard needs to adjust his lineups to see which executes better. Hodge is a big loss. Typically, he drew the defensive assignment on the opponents best player. Think AJ Dybantsa, Alex Karaban, Ejiofor, etc.
DePaul has won 4 of their last 5 games, holding teams to under 64 points a game. Brandin MacLin has averaged 16.2 ppg in his last 6 games. NJ Benson has averaged 17.4 in his last 5. CJ Gunn averages 13.6 ppg. Layden Blocker: 11 ppg and RJ Smith: 7 ppg. They will go to their bench but it’s Benson and Maclin who do the most damage. As a team, they shoot 33% from 3 but every time I watch them it seems they shoot better than that. They live at the free throw line. Not a good prospect for a very thin Nova front line.
They played the Wildcats last on 12/31 at Villanova. The ‘Cats had to go on a 20-7 run over that last few minutes to win 71-67.
For Villanova, Malachi Palmer will start in place of Hodge. Palmer is a streaky shooter but defensively is nowhere near Hodge. Nova has one other forward, Stanford, who hasn’t been the same since an injury and has played only a few minutes. Duke Brennan and Tyler Perkins will need to control the boards. It would be nice if Lindsay and Askew would get hot from deep. Acaden Lewis will need to have an error free game.
This game should come down to the last minute or two. The Wildcats will likely take the air out of the ball. De Paul isn’t fast paced but they might run to get Villanova to get the ‘Cats to foul. In the end, the Wildcats will earn a close victory.
Nova Pick: Villanova money line -148
Nova Pick Record: 14-14-1