Temple Owls vs Villanova Wildcats Gambling Preview + Predictions
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Temple at Villanova NCAAB Lines
Date/Time: Thursday, December 30, 7 PM EST
Venue: The Pavilion, Villanova, PA
Broadcast: ESPN2
Temple Owls vs. No. 8 Villanova Wildcats Betting Lines From Justbet.com
Money Line: OFF
Spread: Villanova -6
Over/Under: 130.5
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Temple Owls vs. No. 8 Villanova Wildcats Preview
Temple (9-2) has already taken down a top 10 team in the Big East in Georgetown, but that game was at home and they face 8th ranked Villanova (10-1) in their house tonight. College basketball lines have Villanova as 6-point favorites in this non-conference match up with a total of 130.5.
Both of these teams played their last games on the 22nd with Villanova killing Monmouth 76-36 and Tempe beat Ohio 76-65.
This season the Owls are 8-3 ATS and the Wildcats are 3-4-1 ATS.
Temple G Ramone Moore, who is the team’s leading scorer at 14.9 ppg, ran into some Villanova players at a recent 76ers game and stated, “”I was like, Get ready. You know it’s about to come up real soon, so get ready.” It is the Owls who may be the team that has to be ready since the Wildcats have yet to lose at home this season (3-0).
For Temple to pull off the upset they will have to play great defense. Their scoring D ranks 16th in the nation allowing opponents to only average 58.1 ppg. They will have to win with their D facing the Wildcats and their 50th ranked scoring offense since the Owls only rank 208th in the nation scoring (68.1 ppg).
Villanova may have a little payback in mind in this game, as last season the Wildcats were the nation’s 3rd ranked team and Temple beat them 75-65. The Wildcats have a 42-game winning streak at their campus home court and the Owls have not won there since 1990.
The Wildcats have one of the fastest backcourts in the nation with guards Corey Stokes (15.7 ppg), Corey Fisher (15.5 ppg), and Maalik Wayns (12.4 ppg). Temple really has to keep Stokes from bombing away from deep, as he is shooting a 3-pt FG% of 41.3%.
While the Wildcats are led by their frontcourt the Owls may have to worry about rebounding more in this game. Villanova ranks 16th in the nation in rebounds per game while Temple only ranks 126th. 6’10” C/F Mouphtaou Yarou (8.8 rpg) and 6’8” F Antonio Pena (7.5 rpg) are the big men on the boards for the Wildcats and the Owls’ frontcourt duo of Lavoy Allen (6.8 rpg) and Micheal Eric (5.5 rpg) have to keep them from dominating the glass tonight. In Villanova’s only loss of the season to Tennessee they were out-rebounded in the game and if they can win the battle of the boards they should win this game.
G Ramone Moore and F Lavoy Allen (10.2 ppg) are the only players for Temple that are averaging in double figures and they will be counted on for most of the offense in this game. The Owls are not a good 3-point shooting team, but they will have to hit some long balls tonight to keep the Wildcats from packing the lane. They shot 8/19 (42.1%) from beyond the 3-point arc in this recent win over Ohio and they have to shoot the rock like that again against Villanova.
In the Ohio win Temple shot the ball well shooting 50% from the floor and they also played good D holding Ohio to only 41% from the field and 20% from 3-point land. If they play defense like that against the Wildcats they have a legit chance at an upset.
Temple is a solid team, but they do not match up well with the Wildcats. Villanova will dominate them on the boards and their backcourt is too much for Temple to handle. While the Owls will not get blown out in this game they will not win and Villanova will cover the 6-point spread.
Betting Trends
Temple has covered the spread in their last 4 games against teams from the Big East and is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 road games.
Villanova is only 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games, 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games facing teams from the Atlantic 10 conference, and is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games against teams with a winning road record.
Pick: Villanova -6
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