Villanova @ Georgetown Preview
By Mike Wynn Sports
A big match up in the Big East Saturday as Georgetown hosts Villanova in a battle of Top10 teams. Villanova is 20-1 overall, 9-0 in conference play and ranked 2nd in the country will get a stiff test here against a Georgetown squad fresh off a home upset against South Florida Wednesday. Georgetown currently ranked 8th in the nation but they’ll surely fall out of the Top 10 after their loss. Georgetown now 3 games out of first in the Big East and this game becomes a must win for the Hoyas if they have any intention of winning the regular season title. So let’s take a look at these two teams starting with Villanova.
Villanova a tremendous 9-0 thus far in the tough Big East conference and Jay Wright has another squad that can make another deep tournament run in March. Senior guard Scottie Reynolds is the team leader on the floor averaging 18.5 points per contest and knocking down 3 point field goals at a 41.1% clip. Reynolds should be an All-American when it’s all said and done this season and he’s just one of those guys who shines in crunch time. Junior 6-8 Antonio Pena is the main man in the paint averaging 11.1 points and a team leading 7.6 rebounds per game, but Villanova is a good rebounding team as a whole averaging 41.1 boards per game. Villanova’s athleticism and pressure defense can smother opponents at times and when they get turnovers they turn them into points. A fairly veteran squad with a go to star in Scottie Reynolds will make Villanova a contender for the NCAA Championship.
Georgetown Hoyas 16-5 overall this season and 6-4 in Big East play are coming off an upset home loss to a suddenly hot South Florida squad that’s playing very well. Georgetown gave up an uncharacteristic 49% from the floor and they simply had no answer for Dominique Jones who poured 29 points. Georgetown has a solid pair of guards in Freeman and Wright and these two juniors average 16.4 and 14.6 points per game respectively. The guards are solid but the key man is 6-11 sophomore Greg Monroe who averages nearly a double-double with 15.4 points and 9.7 boards per game. Monroe is a second year starter with athletic skills that should give Villanova problems in the paint on Saturday. As I mentioned earlier this game is huge for Georgetown and they’ll certainly give a monster effort here at home Saturday afternoon.
Looking at the trends and angles here we find that Villanova’s win against Georgetown earlier this season was their first in 6 tries. Georgetown had been dominant in the series but they had no answer for Scottie Reynolds who poured in 27 points and help Villanova to 41% shooting from the floor. At home I expect the Hoyas to get back to basics and that’s playing tough defense. Prior to the earlier meeting this season Villanova had shot just 32.4% from the floor and failed to make more than 19 field goals in any one of those games. Georgetown playing at home off a loss and avenging a loss in a must win game is good enough for me to take the Hoyas in this one Saturday.