Nova Report
The Wildcats are home to take on Big 5 rival Penn. Tip is 7:00 pm eastern on Peacock. Nova is -14.5/141.5.
Penn is 2-2. They beat two of the worst teams in the country, NJIT (by 1) and Maryland-Eastern Shore (By 3). Their losses were to Lafayette and St. Joes. Nova beat NJIT by 37, beat Lafayette and lost to St. Joes in terms of comparison. Last year, Penn beat Nova by 4 as Tyler Perkins torched the Cats. He now plays for Villanova.
Penn plays at a slow pace, struggles defensively and is a terrible rebounding team. They spread the ball around and have 3 players who can make 3’s: Roberts (15.3 ppg), Brown (11.0 ppg) and Williams (12.5 ppg). 6’9” Spinoso is their rebounder. He averages 11.3 ppg.
As for Villanova, they were embarrassing in their last two games, losing to St. Joe’s and Virginia. They have struggled to defend the 3, been horrible in transition, have turned the ball over excessively and have only one player who has scored consistently in Eric Dixon. The game planning has been poor and halftime adjustments haven’t worked. The Alumni are loudly calling for the head of Coach Kyle Neptune. Villanova has the talent to make it to the NCAA’s but they simply are not playing as a team. No one knows if they can turn it around under Neptune. To my eye, some of the kids looked like they just quit playing in their last two games. We’ll see what tonight brings.
On paper, this is a team Villanova should beat by 20. They have all the motivation. If Penn wins, Neptune’s lost the kids and they’ll be an interim Coach taking over. The texts, phone calls and emails from alumni to the Villanova President have been overwhelming. Neptune definitely has the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
Nova Pick: Call me crazy, but I’m laying the 14 (buying a hook). I just think these kids have enough pride to want to win. They have a huge height and rebounding advantage. They should be able to get some easy fast break points.
Nova Pick Record: 2-3