DePaul Blue Demons (3-12) vs. Villanova Wildcats (10-5)
January 12, 2024 8:30 pm EDT
The Line: Villanova Wildcats -19; Over/Under: 135.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The DePaul Blue Demons and the Villanova Wildcats meet Friday in college basketball action from the Pavilion. DePaul is riding a three-game losing streak at 3-12 overall. The Blue Demons lost to Creighton in their last matchup. As for Villanova, they’re coming off a loss to St. John’s which dropped the Wildcats to 10-5 this year. Let’s get into our DePaul vs. Villanova prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
DePaul Blue Demons
The Blue Demons were only able to win two of their first nine games this year. Those victories came versus Louisville and South Dakota. Since then it’s been a rough 1-5 run for DePaul. The losses in that stretch came versus Northwestern, Villanova, UConn, Georgetown and Creighton.
In the Creighton game on Tuesday, the Blue Demons were drilled 47-30 in the first half. DePaul limped to an 84-58 blowout loss with a 37-28 second half. Leading the team in scoring were Da’Sean Nelson (three turnovers) and Jaden Henley (bench; three rebounds) with 12 points apiece.
Villanova Wildcats
Over on the Wildcats’ side, they lost just one of their first seven games this year (to Pennsylvania). It’s been a .500 run over eight games since then with wins over UCLA, Creighton, DePaul and Xavier mixed with losses to Saint Joseph’s, Drexel, Kansas State and St. John’s.
Matched up against St. John’s in their Saturday game, the Wildcats faced a six-point deficit going into the second half. Villanova was outscored 47-43 from there in an eventual loss 81-71. Tops in scoring during the losing effort was TJ Bamba with 23 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Villanova is 10-5 in the Big East standings.
ANDREW’S FREE DEPAUL VS VILLANOVA PREDICTION
I’ll stay with Villanova. The line’s probably too thick to mess with, though. The Wildcats didn’t play especially well against St. John’s in their last game though, so they’ll need a good bounce-back performance in this one. Villanova put up a tepid 38.8 percent from the field in that one with 21.4 percent (6-of-28) from 3-point range. The good news is that the Wildcats have been pretty solid on defense during this 4-1 stretch, holding opponents to 66 points or fewer in all four wins.
As for DePaul, they’ve been at 65 points or fewer in five of the last six games (all losses) but to be fair they’ve also played some tricky competition. These teams last met up in an 84-48 Villanova win on December 23, and I don’t think this one will be a whole lot different.
