NCAA Tournament: Villanova vs Delaware 3/18/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Villanova Wildcats and Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens do battle Friday in NCAA Tournament First Round college basketball action from PPG Paints Arena. Delaware is 22-12 overall this year. The Hens beat UNC Wilmington in conference tournament activity last week. As for Villanova, they’re currently 26-7 and coming off a tourney win over Creighton. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Delaware has had a few spotty stretches this year but overall the team has been quite consistent. The Hens came off a recent three-game losing streak to take out Drexel, Towson and UNC Wilmington on the way to a conference tournament title. 

Matched up against UNC Wilmington back on March 8, the Hens were down 30-34 at halftime. Delaware came back to a 29-21 run in the second for a 59-55 comeback win. Tops in scoring was Jyare Davis with 18 points and five boards. Andrew Carr also doubled on 17 points and 12 rebounds. 

Over on the Villanova side, they’ve been highly consistent this season as well, losing consecutive games just once. The Wildcats are currently on a five-game win streak, taking out Providence, Butler, St. John’s, UConn and Creighton in that run. 

Back on Saturday versus Creighton, the Wildcats held a slim 19-18 lead going into the second half. Villanova hit a 35-30 run from there on the way to a 54-48 victory. Collin Gillespie was the leading scorer on the team with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists. 

PICK: I’m probably going to stay with Villanova here. The Wildcats have only lost one game (by two to UConn) since February 2, so they’re on a great run right now. Although Villanova scored 66 or fewer points in all three games of the conference tournament, they’re certainly capable of turning up the offense when needed. They’ll likely have to in this matchup. 

As for Delaware, they looked sketchy in the three losses heading up to the conference tourney, but to their credit the Hens had a great run from there. That said, I don’t think they’ll be able to keep up with Villanova for too long.