Villanova Slight Home Faves In Clash Between Big East Titans

Villanova has dominated Seton Hall recently but go into Saturday’s game two games behind the Pirates for first place in the Big East — and desperately needing a win. They’ve opened as slight home favorites, but should bettors look towards the Pirates instead?

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

Villanova is 10-1 at home this season, they’ve won 19 of their last 20 home games overall and they have defeated Seton Hall 16 straight times at home. It’s for those reasons that the No. 10 Wildcats opened as 3.5-point home favorites against No. 12 Seton Hall. The last 10 games between these programs have combined to average 140.8 points per game, while the two programs combine to score 148.5 points per game this season… but the total opened a touch lower at 140.5 points.

Seton Hall News & Notes

The Pirates are sitting atop the Big East standings with a 9-1 conference record, they’ve won 11 of their last 12 games and they have won their last two games against ranked opponents.  

Led by preseason All-American Myles Powell, who averages 22 points per game, Seton Hall hasn’t just been winning games recently; they’ve been playing very good basketball, covering the spread in eight of their last 12 games. 

Saturday’s contest starts the toughest part of Seton Hall’s schedule this season, as they face three ranked teams over their next four games. It will also be big for the Pirates to defeat Villanova, as they are 2-8 SU against the Wildcats over their last 10 matchups, although they can hang their hat on knowing they covered the spread in six of those games — so they aren’t strangers to playing against Villanova tightly.

Villanova News & Notes

At one point in the season, Villanova had won 13 out of 14 games but go into Saturday’s game against Seton Hall having lost two in a row and needing a win to stay within reach of first place in the conference.

The Wildcats are an efficient offense, sitting 37th in the nation in points per 100 possessions, but they are 115th in the country in scoring per game, in part to only averaging 67.5 possessions per 40 minutes, which is 275th in the country.

Combined with a defense that also sits outside the top-100 in defensive scoring and it’s no surprise that Villanova is just 10-10-2 ATS this season; as they tend to play in close games. They’ve also owned the head-to-head matchups against Seton Hall but it is especially prevalent when it’s a Wildcat home game — they’ve won 16 straight home games against the Pirates.

Betting Pick: SETON HALL +3.5

I think this is going to be a close game between the two best teams in the Big East, so I just can’t say no to taking a strong Seton Hall team as an underdog.