Nova Report
The 7-4 Villanova Wildcats are in Omaha tonight to take on #12, 9-2 Creighton BlueJays at 9:00 pm eastern on FS1. Creighton is -8.5/141.5.
The BlueJays, two games ago, pulled a Villanova and threw up nothing but bricks in a loss to UNLV. They bounced back though with a comeback in the last 5 minutes to beat Alabama last out. Similarly, Villanova came alive in the last 5 minutes to beat UCLA in their last game which was 10 days ago.
Creighton has three stars who all have similar stats. Baylor Scheireman (18.5 ppg), Trey Alexander (15.6 ppg) and 7’1” Ryan Kalkbrenner (16.1 ppg) have been dubbed the BlueJays’ ‘3 headed monster’. As a team, they take about half of their shots from 3, hit 11.5 3’s per game, don’t foul much but don’t force many turnovers either. They will be retiring the Coaches son’s jersey tonight. Doug McDermott was an all everything for Creighton in the 4 years he started. Lastly, Kalkbrenner rolled his ankle vs Alabama in the first half. He came out the second half and was on fire as he led the team to the win. That was Saturday. Maybe it swelled up. No information on him.
For the Wildcats, Justin Moore missed the last game with a sprained knee and is questionable. They will face a hostile environment and be undersized vs. Creighton. Nova will have to rely on defense and aggressive rebounding. Hart, Burton, Longino and Bomba will all need to shoot well. Dixon needs to keep Kalkbrenner in check. A tall order.
Nonetheless, the line, teased is too tempting!
Nova Pick: 5 point teaser Nova+13.5/Over 136.5
Nova Pick record: 6-5