It isn't often you see a pair of Top 10 teams on the same court together in December, but that's exactly what we have this weekend when the Villanova Wildcats pay a visit to Charlottesville to take on the Virginia Cavaliers.
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HOW THE VILLANOVA WILDCATS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Jay Wright knew what he was doing when he scheduled this game. He's got a veteran squad which has played some big games on the road in their careers, and this moment isn't going to be too big for them going against a team with legitimate Final Four aspirations.
The Wildcats are only turning the ball over 9.3 times per game, and if they can manage to keep their turnovers in single figures against Virginia’s awesome defense, they're going to have a shot at pulling this upset.
Ryan Arcidiacono has to be the best player on the court as well. He doesn't necessarily have to do the most scoring, but he has to consistently make sure the ball ends up in the hands of the right shooter, even if that shooter is himself.
He's the defending Big East Player of the Year for a reason, and he has the players around him in Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson, Kris Jenkins and Daniel Ochefu to really make this Villanova team special.
HOW THE VIRGINIA CAVALIERS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
The key is really the same for the Cavaliers no matter who the foe turns out to be. They need to play stout defense and figure out how to do just enough on the offensive end of the court to win games.
Of course, early in this season, the Cavvies have been able to put points on the board in bunches as well, but we know that this Villanova team is going to provide a much stiffer challenge. Instead, we have to look back to the road game at Ohio State a couple weeks ago in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge for some proof of what UVA needs to do to cover a game like this.
That day, Ohio State had just 42 shots from the field, half of which were three-point attempts. The Buckeyes pulled down just three offensive rebounds in the game and turned it over 12 times. That's Virginia basketball right now, and that's the recipe for winning a lot of games against really good teams.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
Let's not forget as well that that Ohio State game was played without London Perrantes on the court. He's back now from his appendectomy and looks to be playing at full strength.
Still, we have to imagine Villanova is going to be getting a lot of points in this game, and every single point is going to matter. Buckets are going to be hard to come by on both sides of the ball. Anything more than about a half dozen would be generous to give a very good Villanova team with the best player on the court on its side.
However, it's tough to see Virginia losing on its home court in much of any circumstance.
Virginia 58, Villanova 54
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