The No. 8 ranked Villanova Wildcats could find themselves in a major lookahead spot early Sunday afternoon when they invade the Hinkle Fieldhouse looking to sweep the regular season rivalry from the unranked Butler Bulldogs. Jay Wright’s squad just so happen to have a huge tilt lined up with the Creighton Bluejays on Wednesday, so it’s certainly within the realm of reason that the lesser Bulldogs could catch the Wildcats looking ahead; especially after Nova skunked Butler 85-66 as 12.5-point home favorites in the first meeting back on December 16. On top of that, Butler has logged wins and covers three of the last four times it welcomed the Wildcats onto its historic hardwood. With that, Nova best pack its “A” game to Indianapolis considering Butler’s injury ravaged roster still just found a way to spring the upset over Seton Hall as 7.5-point underdogs earlier in the week.
Take this Big East matchup in live on CBS at 12 p.m. ET from the Hinkle Fieldhouse on Sunday, February 28, 2021. BookMaker.eu will have NCAA basketball odds available for this and every game lined up for Sunday’s enticing college basketball schedule.
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Odds Analysis
In order to defeat the 2020-21 Villanova Wildcats, you must be able to hit the glass and take excellent care of the basketball. Butler failed to do so in both respects when it was handed an ugly 85-66 defeat in its visit to the Finneran Pavilion back in mid-December. Nova only just barely won the rebounding battle 28-25, but it forced a whopping 15 turnovers which allowed it to get out in transition and tally a number of easy baskets. For reference sake, Collin Gillespie and his mates only turned the ball over six times in logging the 19 point victory as decided double-digit favorites. Even though they just snapped a three-game SU and ATS losing streak, the Bulldogs still turned the rock over 14 times. They must take excellent care of the basketball in this rematch, or the end result will be one and the same of the first go round.
Villanova Wildcats
Nova got a chance to avenge one of its three incurred losses last time out at home against St. John’s. The Red Storm pulled the shocker as near 10-point home dogs at the beginning of February by way of lighting it up from beyond the arc and forcing the Wildcats to turn the ball over 15 times. In the rematch, Villanova limited the Johnnies to a laughable 3 of 23 showing from long range while going off for a 42 percent success rate themselves on 11 of 26 shooting. Villanova is without a doubt one of the better teams in the country, but it’s not elite. At least not yet! Regardless, the Wildcats have gone on to win and cover four of their six played true road games. That said, they’ve lost and failed to cover each of the last two at Creighton and St. John’s.
Butler Bulldogs
A tip of the hat goes in the direction of the Bulldogs for finding a way to dig deep and put an end to a prolonged losing streak by handing Seton Hall a second straight defeat. Even with better than 20 points on average sitting on the bench Wednesday night, Butler got the job done sticking close in the first half before pulling away over the final 20 minutes to earn the hard-fought 61-52 outright win and cover as 7.5-point home underdogs. Jair Bolden rose to the occasion to lead the team in scoring with 16 points and added six rebounds to help his team win the battle of the boards. The win moved LaVall Jordan’s kids to 7-4 SU and 6-5 ATS when playing in the comforts of their own gym.
Villanova vs. Butler Prediction
I’ve had a good handle on Nova in recent weeks having last cashed in on them in the first half of their game with the Johnnies a game removed from backing them against UConn and fading them in a big way at Creighton. With that, I’m seeing their games real well right now. While their defense is by no means good enough to propel the team to a deep run in the upcoming NCAA Tournament in my opinion, it’s still good enough to contain a punchless Butler offensive attack that simply just had its day in the sun last time out. I don’t foresee that type of good fortune occurring in this spot against a Wildcats outfit looking to get back into a groove on the road. The first meeting between these teams was a no contest, and that was with the Bulldogs being healthy. They’re far from it right now, and because of it simply just won’t have the offensive firepower to keep the rematch close. Lay the road chalk and look for Nova to get into a good rhythm to set up an epic clash back home against Creighton.
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