Marquette vs. Villanova Pick – Basketball Predictions & Odds 2/1/23

The Villanova Wildcats and the Marquette Golden Eagles meet in college basketball action from the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday night. Let’s dive into the odds, injuries, matchup history and make a prediction for this game.

Odds

Marquette is listed as a 6.5-point home favorite with a ML price of -325. The total for this game is set at 144.5 points.

Injuries

For Villanova, Jordan Longino is out until the middle of the month with a hamstring injury while Nnaana Njoku is out indefinitely with a foot injury. For Marquette, Emarion Ellis is out until the middle of the month with a knee injury while Kam Jones and Sean Jones are both questionable for this game.

Matchup History

Marquette’s 68-66 win over Villanova back on December 31^st, 2022, made it three straight wins for Marquette in the head-to-head matchup.

Trends

Villanova is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 2-9 ATS in their alts 11 games following a loss while the over is 8-2 in their last 10 road games against a team with a winning home record. Marquette is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games following an ATS win and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 home games while the over is 5-1-1 in their last 7 home games against a team with a losing road record.

Pick

I’m sticking with Marquette here. Mainly because I just don’t feel like this is the year for some Villanova magic. It just looks like the Wildcats aren’t adjusting to Kyle Neptune at the speed they’d have hoped for in year one and this is taking growing pains to a whole new level. Marquette tends to play their better ball at home and when the shots are falling for Marquette, watch out. It’s a thick line considering the name brand of Villanova and that you don’t normally see Nova in these spots, but I think they’re in this spot for a reason. Give me Marquette here.