Villanova at Connecticut

Written by Jack Jones - Google +

In a Top 10 tussle Monday, the tenth-ranked Connecticut Huskies will host the seventh-ranked Villanova Wildcats in a key Big East showdown. The Wildcats (16-1, 4-0) enter this contest on an 11-game winning streak, while the Huskies (14-2, 3-2) have won three straight games after a tough start to the conference schedule. Taking a look at the spreads, they have set a line of Connecticut -1.5 over Villanova with a total set of 145.5 points.

Villanova head coach Jay Wright actually coached UConn’s Kemba Walker over the summer. Wright was co-coach of the USA Select team which consisted of several college hoops stars who were picked to scrimmage against the USA National team. “I know what he did for us against Kevin Durant, so now we have to go against him,” Wright said. “It’s scary.”

Walker has been perhaps the best story in college basketball this season, and the Huskies improvement from a year ago has also been one of the biggest surprises. Walker scored 31 points in the team’s 82-62 win over DePaul last time out, which means he has been the leading scorer for the Huskies in every game this season. He leads UConn in many statistical categories including scoring (25.6), assists (3.8), and steals (2.3). He is also the team’s third-leading rebounded (5.4).

Connecticut has been dealing with an NCAA investigation and only made the NIT last year. Walker and company have brought a lot of optimism back to Huskie country, and they’ll be looking to continue their dominance over the Wildcats Monday. UConn is 16-8 in their last 24 meetings with Villanova, and Jay Wright is only 4-10 against the Huskies during his tenure.

Villanova is coming off perhaps their most impressive victory of the season over the weekend. The Wildcats erased a 12-point second half deficit thanks to a 19-0 run to come back and beat Maryland 74-66. Corey Fisher had eight of his 17 points during the run. Fisher is a close friend of Walker’s considering each grew up in the Bronx just a few minutes away from one another, and both attended the same junior high school.

Fisher and company are having to play a ton of minutes this season due to depth issues, as three players logged at least 36 minutes against eh Terrapins. Forward JayVaughn Pinkston is out for the season following assault charges, guard Dominic Cheek suffered a sprained knee against Maryland which will keep him out for a while, and guard James Bell continues to work his way back following offseason surgery.

The Wildcats will soon have to prove that they are as good as their record, because thus far they haven’t had to play much competition away from home. They did make an appearance in New York for the NIT Season Tip-Off, but their only true road games have come against Monmouth and South Florida. Inner-city showdowns with Penn and La Salle certainly don’t count as “true” road games.

Corey Stokes leads the Wildcats in scoring at 16.5 PPG, while Fisher is in a close second at 15.4 PPG. Maalik Wayns is their other big threat offensively, scoring 13.8 PPG and dishing out 5.5 APG. Mouphtaou Yarou does the dirty work inside, scoring 8.8 PPG, grabbing 7.7 RPG and swatting 1.2 BPG. Alex Oriakhi has been coming on strong for the Huskies along side Walker, as the center is averaging 10.9 PPG, 9.2 RPG and 2.4 BPG. During UConn’s three-game winning streak over Texas, Rutgers and DePaul, Oriakhi has averaged 13.0 PPG and 12.7 RPG while blocking nine shots.

BetUS Projected Score: Connecticut 74 – Villanova 72

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