College Basketball Game of the Week: Villanova vs. Providence
The matchup between No. 10 Villanova and No. 8 Providence is the closest thing to a regular season conference championship game as you can get in college basketball.
The Friars are aiming to essentially clinch their first regular season conference championship in program history with a win over Villanova on Tuesday night.
As he prepares for the Big East juggernaut that is the Villanova Wildcats, National Coach of the Year candidate Ed Cooley will rely on his balanced scoring attack and rowdy fans to defend his home court and obtain a nearly insurmountable one and a half game lead in the conference with four games to go.
Although the Friars don’t have an undisputed star, Jared Bynum is starting to emerge as such, averaging 25 points per game over his last three games. Senior center Nate Watson and Indiana transfer Al Durham are the only other players averaging in double-figures and could easily cause problems for the Wildcats who struggle defending the rim.
As for the Wildcats, senior guard Collin Gillespie, who averages 16.2 points per game, is one of the top players in the nation and has been for the past three seasons. Justin Moore completes a prolific backcourt duo, which ranks among the best in the country, as he also averages 15 points per game.
The series is dominated by the Wildcats, who are winners of 16 of the 20 games since 2013-14, but the Friars have stolen two of the last three and are favored to win once again at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
Advanced metrics are, to put it nicely, not big fans of the Friars who rank 47th in KenPom despite their top-10 ranking in the AP Poll and their 21-2 record. Thankfully for them, the NCAA Tournament committee focuses solely on resume, and Joe Lunardi ranks them as a three-seed. A win over Villanova, and a Duke loss to Wake Forest, would even jump them up to a two-seed.
Villanova is currently projected as a four-seed, according to Lunardi, but a win would surely catapult them ahead of the Friars and onto the three-seed line.
The difference between a three and four-seed is substantial, as there has not been a four-seed in the Final Four since Syracuse and Michigan both reached it in 2013. But a three-seed reached the national semifinals in three of the last four tournaments, including three in a row from 2017 to 2019.
The stakes are massive from a Big East perspective, but if recent history tells us anything, each team desperately needs a win to stay in the mix as a realistic threat to reach New Orleans in April.
It’s easy for us fans to look ahead, but both coaches have one thing on their mind ahead of the game of the week: just win, baby.
Derek Bast is a third-year majoring in digital/print journalism. To contact him, email him at dmb6699@psu.edu.
