Nova Report
The 11-13 Villanova Wildcats are at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to do battle with the 15-10 Seton Hall Pirates. Nova is -4.5/130.5. Tip is 8:00 pm eastern. Seton Hall is coming off a loss to Creighton while Villanova just took care of DePaul.
The Hall is known for solid defense and balanced scoring. Al-Amir Dawes at 12.3 ppg is their leader and best 3 point shooter. He comes off a 21 point game vs. Creighton. Tyrese Samuel, Kadary Richmond and KC Nedefo all chip in about 10 ppg. They score most of their points from inside the arc plus are very good at defending the 3. Nova shoots more 3’s than anyone. Justin Moore, since back, is getting stronger and stronger. With him in the lineup, defenses can’t cheat against any of the Wildcats starters. The Cats have put themselves with their backs against the wall. This is a must win if they want to play in the NIT and keep their slim NCAA hopes alive. Nova has NO quad 1 wins…the Hall would be their first.
What Will Happen
We should see some ferocious man to man defense by Seton Hall. Nova will try to exploit that by making the extra pass and looking for opportunities to drive to the basket. On offense, the Pirates will focus inside and try to get some of the Wildcats in foul trouble. For Nova, Daniels was on fire last out so is likely to regress. However, Moore is due for a breakout offensive showing. Armstrong was quiet last game and should make some noise. Whitmore looked very confident vs DePaul and he’ll build on that this evening. Villanova should win this one and will likely squeak past the total number.
Nova Pick: Villanova-4 (buying hooker)
Nova Pick Record: 11-13