Butler vs Villanova Basketball Gambling Lines
The Butler Bulldogs will make the trip over to The Pavillion on Wednesday for a date with the eighth-ranked Villanova Wildcats. [ad-4468020]
Butler Bulldogs (12-15) at 8 Villanova Wildcats (24-3)
Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Time: 8:00 PM ET
Venue: The Pavillion
City: Villanova, Pennsylvania
Spread: Villanova -15
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Matchup Stats | ATS Insider Preview
The Wildcats have been perfect in Big East play with the exception of a pair of losses to Creighton, while the Bulldogs enter this contest having lost 13 of 15 conference games.
The Bulldogs did make some noise in the first meeting between these teams, forcing the game to overtime where they eventually lost to then-No. 11 Villanova by just three points, 76-73. Leading scorer Kellen Dunham not surprisingly led the Bulldogs in scoring with 22 points on 7-of-18 shooting. Butler was able to keep it close despite a decided edge in shooting percentage, with the Bulldogs hitting on just 39,7 percent of their shots compared with the Wildcats hitting on half of theirs.
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That was the Big East opener for both teams. Since then, Villanova has gone on to bash the rest of the Big East, with the exception of Creighton. The Wildcats have needed to gut out each of their last two wins though, beating Providence in double-overtime by just three points, then beating St. John’s by just three points on their home court.
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The Wildcats will need to keep on winning if they hope to keep their Big East title hopes alive. A win on Wednesday will put the team back into a tie with Creighton for the top spot in the conference. Winning by a significant margin would also go a long way in helping the Wildcats earn a prime seeding in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, as they’ve had far too much trouble with supposedly inferior Big East opponents in recent outings.
Butler has been able to keep a lot of their games close too of late, though that’s actually a positive for them. The Bulldogs have losses of six points against Providence and five points against Creighton to their credit in the last two weeks. The team gave Providence a run for their money in their last game, thanks largely to the play of the team’s talented duo of Dunham and Khyle Marshall, who combined for 47 points in that game. The problem was that the Bulldogs allowed the Friars to hit on a ridiculous 66.7 percent of their shots from the field, and 65.0 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.
Villanova stands as possibly the most overseeded team in college basketball at the moment, and while Butler’s season hasn’t been anything to write home about, they have enough talent on the roster to at least keep this game closer than the 15-point spread would otherwise indicate.
The Bulldogs are 19-9 ATS in their last 28 games following an ATS loss.
The play: Butler +15
