The Villanova Wildcats and the UConn Huskies meet Saturday in college basketball action from XL Center in Hartford. Here’s a UConn vs Villanova prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UConn vs Villanova pick.
Villanova Wildcats Betting Preview
Villanova managed to post a pretty decent 7-2 overall record in their first nine games this year amid some tough competition during that time. The Wildcats’ only two losses came courtesy of BYU and Michigan. After that came another 7-2 run with wins over Pitt, Wisconsin, Seton Hall, DePaul, Butler, Marquette and Providence. Over the first 18 games of the season that would give Villanova a 14-4 record in the books for their troubles.
On Wednesday versus Georgetown, the Wildcats were clinging to a slim 26-23 lead in the locker room. Villanova woke up in the second half on a 40-28 advantage however, and eventually took the win at home 66-51 in the end. Tyler Perkins led the charge on 16 points and five rebounds. Duke Brennan posted 10 points with 10 rebounds and three assists for a double-double.
UConn Huskies Betting Preview
Over on the UConn side, they won the first four games of their season before taking a November 19 loss to Arizona. Since then it’s been wins over Bryant, Illinois, Kansas, East Texas A&M, Florida, Texas, Butler, DePaul, Xavier, Marquette, Providence, DePaul, Seton Hall and Georgetown in succession. So far over the course of 19 games this year the Huskies have managed a nice 18-1 record.
Last weekend in the Georgetown game, the Huskies entered the second half with a 32-28 advantage. UConn was outscored 34-32 the rest of the way but still held on for a nice road win 64-62 in the end. Leading the team in the winning effort was Tarris Reed with 15 points and 11 boards for a double-double. UConn’s Silas Demary added 12 points with five assists and four rebounds in 27 minutes of work as well.
Why the Connecticut Huskies will win
- Connecticut has won each of its last 24 games at PeoplesBank Arena.
- Villanova has lost each of its last eight games against Top 5 AP-ranked opponents.
- Connecticut has won the first half in each of its last 12 games as a top-10 AP-ranked team at PeoplesBank Arena.
Why the Villanova Wildcats will win
- Villanova has won each of its last six games when playing with a rest disadvantage.
- Villanova has won the first half in four of its last five games.
UConn vs Villanova Prediction
I’ll lean toward UConn. The Huskies did barely escape Georgetown in a road matchup last weekend though, so they’ll need to be sharper here. UConn shot just 36.2 percent from the field in that one with a rough 19.2 percent (5-of-26) from 3-point range and a 35-31 rebounding deficit—not to mention the 32-24 disadvantage on points in the paint. The Huskies were pretty disciplined with the ball however, notching just five turnovers to 13 for the Hoyas. UConn had a string of nine games with 71 or more points, but they’ve been below 70 in each of their last two outings.
As for Villanova, they started out slowly against a middling Georgetown team in a home win this week, eventually shooting a tepid 40.7 percent from the field with a 35-29 rebounding deficit. The Wildcats were great in the paint however, notching a 34-14 edge there, and had just eight turnovers along the way. Villanova has won three of the last four games and they’ve scored 71 or more points in six of the last seven outings.