Nova Report
The 11-6 Villanova Wildcats are In Philly at the Wells Fargo Center to take on the 16-2 #1 ranked UCONN Huskies. Gametime is 8:00 pm eastern on FS1.
Opening line was UCONN-1.5/137.5 but it’s been bet up to -4.5/138.5.
UCONN comes in off of a cruel beat down of Creighton (62-48). The prolific scoring Creighton club had 30 points with 7 and 1/2 minutes left in the game. The Huskies defense was stifling and the crowd, fueled by $2 beers, was deafening. Creighton had 3 shot clock violations and would have had more if not for desperation shots before the buzzer sounded. AND…UCONN’s 7’2” monster, Donovan Clingan, only played 16 minutes as he was returning from an injury.
UCONN is led by Cam Spencer (15.5 ppg, 47% from 3), Tristen Newton (14.9 ppg), Alex Karaban (15.3 ppg, 40% from 3), Stephon Castle (9.7 ppg but an elite defender) and Donovan Clingan (13.3 ppg). They shoot 60% inside the arc and 36% from 3 plus Net 12.2 offensive boards per game. Other than that, they can bring in 6’10 inch Johnson off the bench. Nova has one player at 6’9” and one at 6’8”.
The Wildcats come in off of a 86-74 loss to Marquette where they played horrible defense and made no second half adjustments at all. It was pretty pathetic. Nonetheless, Mark Armstrong and Brendan Hausen showed they can score and UCONN certainly took notice.
Clearly, this is a formidable challenge for Villanova. To win, they need to get off to a fast start and get the crowd into the game. Dixon, who will draw Clingan, needs to lure him out deep by nailing a few 3’s which will open up the lanes to the basket. Armstrong will likely be defended by Castle which means he’ll need to pass the ball around. The Cats need to shoot with MORE than 10 seconds left on the shot clock. If UCONN goes zone, Nova needs Hausen to get hot and break it. AND, UCONN will need to hit a cold shooting spell at least once in the game. And, of course, rebound and play hard nosed D. No problem!
In all transparency, I bet UCONN-1.5 last night and Villanova +4.5 this morning hoping for a middle. For my pick here, there just may be some Wildcat Magic in store. Life on the road is tough in the Big East. Taking a Nova/Over 5 point teaser.
Nova Pick: 5 point teaser Nova+9.5/Over 133.5
Nova Pick Record:7-10
Go Cats!