UConn vs Villanova 12/28/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Villanova Wildcats and the UConn Huskies meet in Big East college basketball action from the XL Center on Wednesday evening.

The Villanova Wildcats will be out to build on their 78-63 win over St. John’s in their last game. Eric Dixon leads Villanova in scoring and rebounding with 16.1 PPG and 6.1 RPG while Caleb Daniels has 15.7 PPG along with 5.3 RPG and a team-high 3.5 APG to lead the Wildcats in assists as well this season. Brandon Slater has 11.8 PPG with 5.5 RPG and Cam Whitemore has 12.4 PPG and 6.1 RPG across five games to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Villanova up to this point in the year. As a team, Villanova is averaging 71.6 PPG on 43.9% shooting from the field, 34.2% from three and 83.3% from the foul line this season.

The UConn Huskies will try to remain unbeaten after an 84-73 win over Georgetown in their last game. Adama Sanogo leads the Huskies in scoring and rebounding with 18.6 PPG and 7.2 RPG while Jordan Hawkins has 14.3 PPG and Tristen Newton has 10.2 PPG with 4.5 RPG and 4.5 APG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for UConn up to this point in the season. Andre Jackson Jr. also has a team-high 5.1 APG to lead the Huskies in the assist department this season. As a team, UConn is averaging 83.6 PPG on 48.6% shooting from the field, 37.3% from three and 74.7% from the foul line this season.

Villanova is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games against a team with a winning record and 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games overall while the over is 7-2 in their last 9 road games. UConn is 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 home games and 12-3-1 ATS in their last 16 games overall while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 home games.

I get the case to be made for UConn in the favorite role here, but I’m leaning towards Villanova and the points. Don’t get me wrong, UConn is the better team right now by a fair margin and is looking like a final four team. However, we saw the perils of laying big numbers in conference play when UConn struggled to create heavy separation against Georgetown, and I think it’ll be even harder against a Villanova team that needs to start putting together their best performances after some slow starts to the season. These matchups are usually close year after year and I think UConn probably wins, but Villanova covers. Give me the points and the Wildcats here.