No. 7 Connecticut Huskies vs. No. 2 Villanova Wildcats – March Madness Round of 32 – Preview and Prediction

After a chaotic opening round, the NCAA Tournament begins what could be another wild set of games in the Round of 32. One such game features the Connecticut Huskies, who barely escaped being clipped by St. Joseph’s and the Villanova Wildcats, who had an easy win over the Milwaukee Panthers. Which team will taste the Sweet 16 round?

Connecticut Huskies vs. Villanova Wildcats (March 22, 9:40 PM ET)

Line: Connecticut Huskies (+3.5) vs. Villanova Wildcats (-3.5); total 132.5

Betting on the Connecticut Huskies

On the brink of an early elimination, the seventh-seeded Connecticut Huskies turned to Shabazz Napier, and the senior guard delivered. Napier rescued the team by scoring nine of his 24 points in overtime to lead UConn past 10-seed St. Joseph’s Hawks, 89-81, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The game ended in regulation with both teams tied, 70-70, which was enough to clear the total line of 132. It cut the Huskies’ streak of going under. UConn is now 9-1 UNDER in its last 10 games.

The Huskies made a living out of converting St. Joseph’s turnovers into buckets. UConn scored 21 points off the Hawks’ 14 turnovers, while St. Joe’s only had nine. The Huskies also went near perfect from the free throw line, going 18-for-20 (90%). By covering the 5.5-point spread as faves, the Huskies improved to 3-1 ATS in their last four games.

Betting on the Villanova Wildcats

The second-seeded Villanova Wildcats ran over the 15-seed Milwaukee Panthers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, 73-53. Though it was a lopsided victory for the Wildcats, they needed a strong second half to put the game out of Milwaukee’s reach, as the Panthers were only down by four at the half.

Darrun Hilliard led Villanova with 16 points, and got lots of support from his teammates. Four other Wildcats scored in double figures, with the duo of Kris Jenkins and Josh Hart providing 11 points apiece off the bench. Villanova did most of its damage inside as evidenced by its 46 points in the paint. The 20-point win pushed the Wildcats to a 5-1 ATS record in their last six games.

Prediction – Bet Under

Both are defense-oriented squads (UConn and Villanova are ranked in top 40 is scoring defense) and you could consider the high-scoring game of Connecticut’s last game as just an aberration of the Huskies’ consistency in going below the totals line.

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