No. 11 Villanova and Marquette are two of the best, and hottest, teams in the Big East. Villanova cruised to its sixth straight victory in an 82-42 blowout over Butler on Sunday while the Golden Eagles under new management won their fourth straight by holding off then-No. 20 Seton Hall on Saturday.
No. 11 Villanova vs. Marquette
Wednesday, 8 pm ET
TV: CBS Sports Network
Record: Villanova 13-4, 6-1 Big East; Marquette 12-6, 4-3 Big East
Spread: Villanova -13.5
Over/Under: 139.5
Moneyline: Villanova -900; Marquette +600
Injuries: None reported
Series history: Villanova leads the series 21-9. The Wildcats have won the last three, seven of the last nine and 16 of the last 19 dating to 2013.
A look at Villanova
Forget the four early losses against a difficult, travel-heavy schedule that included road or neutral-site games against No. 9 UCLA, No. 4 Purdue and No. 5 Baylor.
Villanova is now playing at the level that produced NCAA championships in 2016 and 2018 and five straight seasons as a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.
There are blowouts, there are big-time blowouts, and there is 82-42 over Butler, which is not a great team but certainly not a patsy.
The Wildcats rely on their multi-tasking backcourt of Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore, who are averaging a combined 33 points and six assists and are the main reason the Wildcats average only 9.4 turnovers per game, sixth-fewest in NCAA Division. I.
📊 Final Stats 📊
Gillespie: 17pts | 5rebs | 3asts | +30
Moore: 15pts | 7rebs | 5asts | +29
Dixon: 14pts | 5rebs | 4asts | +27
Samuels: 14pts | 5rebs | 1ast | +26 #NOVAvsButler #GoNova pic.twitter.com/vvSzLlm4UD
— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) January 17, 2022
Gillespie, Moore and Villanova are especially difficult to handle at home. The Wildcats are shooting 53 percent from the floor and 47 percent from distance while going 6-0 in home games at the Wells Fargo Center or at the campus Finneran Pavilion.
Gillespie, who is averaging 17.1 points a game, is shooting 56.5 percent from the field and 51.2 percent from distance at home. Moore, averaging 15.8 points, is shooting 48 percent at home, 47 percent from distance.
A look at Marquette
Just after Marquette beat then-No. 20 Seton Hall 73-72 last Saturday, one of the announcers credited the Golden Eagles with their “fourth upset of the season.”
Maybe. But new coach Shaka Smart’s team has also beaten No. 17 Illinois, albeit without Kofi Cockburn, and No. 21 Providence while playing an ambitious schedule that has included losses to UCLA and No. 8 Wisconsin. It could be that the Eagles are just good.
Smart knows how to win — he was let go at Texas because of the outsized expectations that always accompany the 10-gallon-hat crowd — and is proving it again with a team that contains a strong mix of role-playing components who apply pressure and play together.
Marquette beat Seton Hall huh? Shaka Smart has them boys cooking man! Starting 3 freshmen too! They are going to be a major problem in the Big East in these coming years.
— Shreyas Laddha (@shre98) January 15, 2022
Marquette is back on track after a stretch of five losses in six games to, among others, Wisconsin, UCLA and Xavier, a stretch culminated by a dispiriting double-overtime Jan. 1 loss to Creighton in which the Eagles paid for not fouling in the final seconds of regulation when a buzzer-beating three extended the game.
Smart has built this team around athletic forward Justin Lewis and a host of transfers including guard Darryl Morsell, an all-Big 10 defender at Maryland, point guard Tyler Kolek and rim-protecting center Kur Kuath.
Facts to know
- After playing only five home games in its first 16, Villanova will play three of the next four at home.
- Marquette averages 17.7 assists, 7.8 steals and 5.4 blocked shots per game, all in the top third of Division I.
- Villanova is limiting opponents to 60.4 points per game and has held them to 29.8 percent shooting from distance.
Numbers to know
- Villanova has won the last nine home games against Marquette, 6-3 ATS
- Villanova is 6-0 ATS in its six-game winning streak
- Marquette is 4-0n ATS during its four-game winning streak
The pick: Villanova 77, Marquette 67
