Saturday, the University of Connecticut Huskies are traveling to Philadelphia to take on the Villanova Wildcats. The Wildcats are looking to return to their NET rank of fifth after falling two spots by losing to the Marquette Golden Eagles for the second time in two weeks. UCONN on the other hand will be trying to move up from the #17 NET rank, and rebound from their tough loss to the Creighton Blue Jays 59-55.Β UCONN vs Villanova will be a can’t miss matchup for the Big East and March Madness implications. With March Madness just around the corner, review all the Tips for Basketball Online Betting to start the winning streak early.
The Big East has won the March Madness tournament nine times since the 1980’s, including four times in the last ten tournaments. Last year the Big East sent four teams to the tournament, with two of those teams making it to the Sweet 16. This year they should send six to possibly eight teams. Currently five of those teams are in the AP Top 25 poll.
Villanova holds the 7th position in NET (and ranked 12th in the AP Poll), while UCONN is 17th in both rankings. If the tournament were to be seeded today Villanova would be a two seed and UCONN would be a five seed. While other Big East squads like Xavier (5 seed), Marquette (7 seed), Providence (8 seed), & Seton Hall (11 seed) would all make the tournament on the right side of the bubble.
In the Big East standings, Providence holds the first place position with a 9-1 conference record. Villanova is only a game back of Providence in the Big East. They are followed by Marquette (two games), UCONN (two and half), Xavier (three), Creighton (three and a half), Seton Hall and St. John’s (tied at five games back), Butler (five and a half), DePaul (eight), and Georgetown (eight and a half games back). UCONN vs Villanova is big; with a win Villanova will move to a half game back or UCONN will be tied with Marquette with two games back
Villanova might fall to the Huskies in two weeks when they travel to Connecticut, but a home game in Philadelphia is another story. Villanova plays really well at home, they sport an eight and one record on their home court so far this year, only barely losing to Marquette 57-54. The Wildcats do everything well with both solid offensive and defensive stats. They shoot 72 and a half points per game, steal the ball 6.3 times a game on average, and hold opponents to only 61 points per game.
Villanova is lead by their senior Guard Gillespie. Collin leads the team in points per game with 17, shoots 42% from the three point line, and is reliable on the free throw line scoring 91% of shots. Sophomore Forward Eric Dixon leads the team in rebounds and shoots threes 50% of the time. When Dixon plays at home he averages 11.9 points per game and makes 75% of his three point shots. Villanova should win this close matchup at home.
UCONN is no easy team to beat. The Huskies have only lost five games this year. Furthermore, in those five games they only lost by four, three, three, three, and four points. They keep games close, mainly because they rebound the ball 42 times per game, which is tenth in all of college basketball (over 350 teams). They are lead by their six foot nine Forward from Mali, Adama Sanogo.
The Sophomore not only leads the team in rebounds at 8.4 per game. He also averages 15 points per game, shooting 52% from the field (mainly in the paint). Sanogo actually plays better on the road averaging 8.5 rebounds and 16.2 points per game and 2.7 blocks per game. The big guy also makes significantly more of his free throw shots on the road at 88.2% compared to his 60.5% at home. UCONN will make this game close, but it will be a tough game, leading to sweet revenge on February, 22nd when UCONN vs Villanova is replayed, this time in Connecticut.

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