Nova Report
The Eagles aren’t the only team playing in Philly today. Literally across the street at the Wells Fargo Center, the 10-10 Villanova Wildcats take on the #23 16-5 Providence Friars at noon eastern. Providence is -1.5/138.5.
The Friars are 8-2 in Conference, recently easily disposing of Butler and DePaul. Their two losses were at Marquette and at Creighton. Nova has been off for 9 days. They are 4-5 in Conference with wins against Georgetown and St.John’s in their last two games.
Providence is an outstanding rebounding team even though height wise they are similar to Villanova. They are led by Bryce Hopkins (16.5 ppg/9.1 boards), Devin Carter (13.1 ppg/4.6 boards), Ed Croswell (12.5 ppg/7.6 boards) and Noah Locke (10.7 ppg). They recently got back Jared Bynum back from injury. Their energetic 6th man is Alyn Breed. They play sound team basketball both offensively and defensively.
After a 9 day layoff, it’s difficult to predict how the Wildcats will start out. They’ll have energy for sure but will it lead to tenacious defense? Or a torrid offense? The only good thing about the ‘vacation’ is Longino should be back and he’ll be needed to help rebound for sure. Additionally, Whitmore and Dixon will need to focus on boxing out. Those two had off games last out and are likely to bounce back today. Armstrong will need to be aggressive and take it to the rim plus limit his turnovers. They’ve had 9 days to game plan for Providence so they’ll be prepared. The ‘Cats are in desperate need of a marquis win and today would be a good day to get it.
What Will Happen
Providence will just play it’s game. Rebound, tenacious defense, push the pace and opportunistic 3 point shooting is what we’ll see. The pressure is on Nova who will need to step up its game. They will likely keep pace rebounding with the Friars. It will all come down to shooting and turnovers. They SHOULD be ready to upset a top tier Big East team.
Today’s Play: Nova+2 (buying 1/2 point)
My Nova Play Record:8-12