Nova Report
It’s the Cats vs. Dogs fight as the 10th ranked UCONN Huskies invade the Villanova campus for a 6:30 pm eastern battle on FS1. UCONN is -1/146.5 over the Wildcats.
This, by far, is the most important game Villanova will be playing this season. If they have ANY Hope of playing in the NCAA Tournament and retaining Kyle Neptune as Coach, this is a must win. They are beginning a daunting stretch of UCONN, at St Johns and at Xavier. They need to win two of three with this one being the most important.
The Huskies will be without leading scorer, Liam McNeeley. His absence will also hurt on the boards. Alex Karaban, 16.3 ppg will be UCONN’s go to guy along with guard Solo Ball (13.4 ppg). A pair of 6’10” monsters, Tarris Reed and Sam Johnson will crash the boards and clean up misses. Hassan Diarra is their playmaker.
UCONN has won two straight NCAA Championships and with a $10 million NIL budget are expecting their 3rd straight. Defensively, they tend to foul a lot and are too lax defending the three. Offensively, they are money inside the arc and are truly momentum players as they can get on big runs at any time. Their 3 bench players are decent with the transfer from St.Mary’s, Mahaney, showing the most promise lately.
For the ‘Cats, Eric Dixon leads the nation in scoring (25.9 ppg) and can shoot from anywhere. He remembers vividly the last game vs UCONN where Nova was beat by 26 points. Longino had his best game last out hitting 5 for 5 from 3. Poplar and Brickus keep improving as has their bench. No doubt, they’ll bomb away from deep as well as try to get as many fast breaks as possible. It’s going to be a nail biter.
My Nova Pick: Villanova ml +102
Nova Pick Record:7-8