Nova Report
Villanova (17-12) is off to the Prudential Center ‘The Rock’ in Newark to take on the 18-11 Seton Hall Pirates. Tip is 6:30 pm eastern on FS1. Make no mistake, this IS an NCAA play-in game. Both clubs are on the bubble. The winner will stay on the right side of the bubble while the loser, barring winning the Big East Conference Tournament, is off to the NIT. Seton Hall is -1.5/131.5.
The Pirates are coming off of two punishing losses to Creighton and UCONN. Of course, most of the Big East has been crushed by those two clubs. Nova comes in off of their best performance of the year in a 71-60 win at Providence.
Seton Hall is led by Kadary Richmond (16.2 ppg) who has already stated he desperately wants to play in the NCAA Tournament. He will put the Pirates on his back. If he falters, Dawes and Davis are there to pick him up as they have been scoring well over their season averages lately. The Pirates were wiped out by Villanova about a month ago 80-54 as the Wildcats had their best shooting game of the year (47% from 3). The Hall likes to score from the paint as opposed to behind the arc. They have struggled a bit defensively the last few games. They will be focused on the present though given the stakes.
On the Nova side, Justin Moore has come alive just in time. Both he and Hausen have hit at a 50% clip from 3 over the last 3 games. Dixon has been steady. Bamba has a face fracture but he’ll play. Armstrong is growing in confidence. Including giving up 78 points to UCONN, Nova has been giving up an average of 58.5 points per game over their last 8. Once again, Coach Neptune will preach defense and rebounding.
Villanova is playing their best basketball of the season right now. I’m riding with them.
Nova Pick: Villanova +1.5
Nova Pick Record:12-17