Villanova Wildcats vs Marquette Golden Eagles Prediction, 12/23/2020 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Villanova Wildcats vs Marquette Golden Eagles

Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Location: Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI

TV: FS1

Odds/Point Spread: Villanova (-2.5)

The Marquette Golden Eagles (5-4) play the Villanova Wildcats (7-1) at Fiserv Forum on Wednesday. The spread on this game has Villanova as 2.5-point favorites. The total has been set at 141.5.

Villanova comes into this matchup with a record of 7-1 on the season. They average 79.5 points per contest (84th in Division 1) while going 47.4% from the field. The Wildcats are connecting on 37.2% on three-point attempts (80 of 215) and 73.5% from the free throw line. As a team, Villanova is collecting 35.9 boards per game and has accounted for 119 dimes for the year, which has them ranked 53rd in college basketball in terms of passing the ball. They turn the ball over 8.4 times per contest and as a group they commit 16.8 personal fouls per contest. On the defensive end, the Wildcats are able to force 12.3 turnovers every game and they draw 17.8 personal fouls. They relinquish 34.7% on 3-point shots and they rank 121st in college hoops in points per game from their opponents (67.0). The Wildcats defensively are giving up and opponent field goal percentage of 44.6% (199 of 446) and they concede 31.1 rebounds per game as a team. They are currently ranked 191st in the nation in allowing assists with 83 conceded so far this season.

The Villanova Wildcats played the Saint Joseph's Hawks and earned the victory with a final of 88-68 in their last game. Villanova finished the game with a 50.0% FG percentage (32 of 64) and knocked down 9 of their 25 three-point attempts. At the charity stripe, the Wildcats buried 15 of their 18 attempts for a rate of 83.3%. In regard to rebounding, they earned 33 with 9 of them being offensive. They also recorded 21 assists in this contest while getting 6 steals and 2 rejections. When discussing the defense, Villanova let their opponent shoot 50.0% from the floor on 32 of 64. Saint Joseph's distributed 14 assists and 3 steals for the contest. Additionally, the Hawks had 27 rebounds (5 offensive, 22 defensive) and got 2 blocked shots. Saint Joseph's finished the contest at 88.9% from the charity stripe by making 8 of their 9 tries. They also buried 10 of their 32 tries from 3-point land.

Caleb Daniels is one guy who was pivotal in the game. He scored 19 points on 7 out of 13 shooting. He was on the hardwood for 34 mins and snagged 5 rebounds. Daniels finished the game at 53.8% from the field and also earned 2 dimes. One more player that had an impact in the matchup for the Wildcats was Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. He totaled 7 rebounds and accounted for 6 assists. He ended up going 57.1% from the field in this game by going 8-of-14 (25 points). When the final whistle blew, Robinson-Earl saw the court for 33 minutes.

Marquette has a mark of 5-4 for the year. Marquette has accounted for 685 pts on the year (76.1 per contest) and they collect 39.6 rebounds per contest. The Golden Eagles have committed 19.2 fouls per game while shooting 74.5% from the charity stripe. In terms of offensive execution, the Golden Eagles are connecting on 45.8% from the floor, which has them ranked 143rd in the nation. Their rate of earning assists is at 14.2 times per game (139th in D-1) and they are turning it over 14.3 times per game. The Golden Eagles defensively are ranked 163rd in the country in PPG allowed with 69.3. They surrender 13.0 assists and 32.0 boards on a nightly basis, which has them ranked 179th and 77th in the country. The Marquette defense gives up 33.8% on three-point shots (72 of 213) and their opposition knocks down 71.7% of their free throw attempts. They have forced 10.9 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 39.5% from the field (80th in college hoops).

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the Marquette Golden Eagles took a loss by a score of 91-88 when they played the Xavier Musketeers. The Golden Eagles snagged 18 defensive boards and 6 offensive rebounds for a total of 24 in this contest. They stuffed 2 shots while recording 2 steals in this contest. The Musketeers earned 16 fouls in this game which got the Golden Eagles to the free throw line for 17 tries. They were able to knock down 16 of those for a rate of 94.1%. When talking about three-point attempts, Marquette converted 8 out of 18 tries (44.4%). When the final whistle was blown, the Golden Eagles went 32 out of 58 from the field which gave them a rate of 55.2%. The Golden Eagles permitted the Musketeers to make 30 out of 56 tries from the field which had them shooting 53.6% in this matchup. They shot 54.2% from three-point range by going 13 of 24 and ended up going 18 out of 26 at the free throw line (69.2%). With respect to how they rebounded, Marquette allowed Xavier to get 28 in all (10 on the offensive glass).

Koby McEwen pitched in for the Golden Eagles for this contest. He buried 6 out of 12 for the matchup for a field goal percentage of 50.0%, which had him sitting at 20 points. McEwen snagged 2 rebounds in his 38 minutes and had 4 dimes for the game. Another guy that ended being a contributor for Marquette was Dawson Garcia. He accumulated 20 points in 32 minutes played via 8 out of 11 shooting for this game. Garcia ended up shooting 72.7% from the floor and also contributing 2 dimes and 4 total rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Villanova (-2.5)

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