Nova Report
The 14-14 Villanova Wildcats are at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to take on the #19 Creighton BlueJays (18-10). Creighton is -3.5/134.5. Tip is noon eastern time.
Creighton is coming off of a tough 2 point loss to Marquette marred by a controversial foul call at the end of the game. Nova won their last game by a point at Xavier. Can the Wildcats win their second straight vs. a ranked team? Can Creighton sweep the Cats building off of their 66-61 win over them in Omaha about 3 weeks ago?
One thing is for sure, Nova fans will never forget Creighton making 21 3’s against the Wildcats at this very same Wells Fargo Center.
Creighton has 7’1” Kalkbrenner who dominates scoring and rebounding inside. He’s turned the high flying BlueJays into a dominant defensive club. Baylor Scheirman came out of his slump last game vs Marquette which is a good sign for Creighton. Trey Alexander torched the Cats for 27 up in Omaha. Ryan Nembhard has tossed in 17.7 ppg in his last 3.
For Nova, Justin Moore had a breakout game vs. Xavier scoring 25 pts on 10-13 shooting. The Cats made adjustments in the second half and limited Xavier to 27 points in that period. Plus they actually had their highest number of assists all season. But Xavier was missing their star player.
So, what can we expect Saturday at noon.
What Will Happen
For Creighton, look for Scheirman to go bombs away from 3. They will (no surprise) feed Kalkbrenner early and often as Villanova has no one taller than 6’8”. Alexander probably feels comfortable shooting vs the Cats given his 27 vs them in Omaha. Nembhard will try to take advantage of the slower Nova guards ( except for Armstrong). Defensively, they will be all over Moore.
For the Wildcats, expect Caleb Daniels to have a better game than he did vs. Xavier. Moore should regress just a little. Whitmore is due to hit some jumpers. Dixon will need to push Kalkbrenner around a bit. Defensively, look for Nova to cheat a bit on Kalkbrenner by attempting to block passes going to him when he isn’t facing the basket.
This game is likely to be low scoring with Nova playing like there is no tomorrow. Somehow the Wildcats will come away with the win.
Nova Pick: Nova+4 (buying hook)
Nova Pick Record: 13-14-1