Big East cellar-dweller Marquette is still alive. No. 9 Marquette looks to take down another higher seeded team in the Big East Tournament when it takes on No.1 Villanova later today in a quarterfinal matchup in the Mecca of Basketball. Will Marquette pull off an earthshaking upset? Or will Villanova complete a three-game sweep of Marquette this season?
Read on below for a detailed preview of this game. You can also click here for our preview and prediction of the Pac-12’s USC vs. UCLA tourney matchup.
[sc:MarchMadness ]Marquette Golden Eagles vs. Villanova Wildcats Betting Preview
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York
When: Thursday, March 12, 12:00 PM ET
Line: Marquette Golden Eagles vs. Villanova Wildcats – view all NCAA Basketball lines
Betting on the Marquette Golden Eagles
Fresh off scoring an upset win, Marquette seek another one, this time against national heavyweight Villanova. Behind Matt Carlino’s 26 points, Marquette earned a spot in the quarterfinals by mercifully ending Seton Hall’s frustrating season on Wednesday with a 78-56 victory.
[sc:NCAAB240banner ]Carlino has been playing superb since coming back from a concussion injury. In five games since returning to the lineup, the Golden Eagles’ leading scorer has averaged 18.0 points on 44.9 percent shooting from the three-point region. Carlino, who didn’t play in Marquette’s loss to Villanova on February 21, is averaging 14.9 points per game this season.
Without a doubt, Marquette will ride the hot hand of Carlino against Villanova. That said, he’ll need to get help from the likes of Duane Wilson and Luke Fischer to keep the team’s offense from being too predictable. Wilson and Fischer enter Thursday’s contest with averages of 12.1 and 11.0 points per game, respectively.
Marquette is 2-0 ATS in its last two games.
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Betting on the Villanova Wildcats
It’s been 20 years since Villanova last won the Big East Tournament. Jay Wright and his boys look to end that long barren run in the tourney, beginning tonight against No. 9 Marquette.
In their last game before hitting Madison Square Garden, the Wildcats breezed past the St. John’s Red Storm, 105-68, on Saturday. As usual, it was Villanova’s outside sniping that keyed the win, as the Wildcats went 11-of-32 from the three-point area. Villanova averaged 8.8 threes per game in the regular season, and was even better over its last three outings, wherein the Wildcats knocked down an average of 10.0 triples.
The Wildcats, who are 21st in the nation in scoring with 76.7 points per game, also made it rain from the outside in both of their wins against Marquette this season. They drilled 22 total threes in those games on an impressive 48 percent clip. Expect leading scorer Darrun Hillard (14.2 PPG) and company to take advantage again of Marquette’s weak perimeter defense on Thursday. Hillard, who scored 27 points in Villanova’s 87-76 win over Marquette last February, leads the team in three-pointers with 66 thus far this season.
Villanova is 10-0 SU and 9-1 ATS in its last 10 games overall.
Writer’s Prediction
Villanova wins, 81-70.
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