NCAA Basketball Free Pick – Thursday, December 30, 2010
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No. 25 Temple (9-2) at No. 8 Villanova (10-1)
Thursday, December 30, 7:00PM EST on ESPN 2
Spread: Villanova -7 ½
Over/Under: OFF
With all the hype surrounding Thursday’s game between the No. 25 Temple Owls and No. 8 Villanova Wildcats, this game is easily the marquee matchup of the season in the City of Brotherly Love.
Bragging rights are on the line and for Temple, it’s a chance to prove last year’s upset was no one-year wonder. The unranked Owls shocked then-No. 3 Villanova 75-65 for a win that helped propel them to an Atlantic 10 championship.
The Wildcats rebounded nicely from the loss –the only one in a 20-1 start -that ended with a loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Temple, who fell out of top 25 earlier this year, are back in this week’s poll via a six-game winning streak highlighted by a 68-65 win over then-No. 9 Georgetown. Ramone Moore scored a career-high 30 points in the win.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats have won five straight after a Nov. 26 loss to Tennessee in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Corey Stokes leads the team in scoring (15.7 points), followed Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns. Fisher and Wayns form one of the speediest backcourts around and finding a way to stop them is Temple’s toughest assignment.
Villanova has a 42-game winning streak at their campus home and Temple hasn’t won there since 1990.
The team’s confidence has to have gotten a huge boost after they destroyed Monmouth, 76-36 in its last outing. It was all Villanova from the start, going into halftime up 44-17. Monmouth never got close. Villanova took this one by dominating Monmouth in three pointers and also beating them in assists.
The big factor here is momentum, but neither team really hold an edge as Villanova has won five straight, and believes they can add to that, but the Owls too are riding their own streak.
There is one performance category where Villanova can exploit Temple and others where they come out ahead. The most obvious is scoring, where the Wildcats lead the Owls, 76 to 68 points per game. Villanova is also ahead in three-point shooting, 31 to 27 percent and lastly, the Wildcats own rebounding, 41 per game to 36 per game.
However, in shooting, the Owls beat the Wildcats posses a slim advantage 46 to 44 percent.
With the exception of last season’s loss, Villanova has gone 3-1 against Temple, and 2-0 at home in the last four years.
Put it all together and it looks like a win for the Wildcats.
The odds makers have the Villanova Wildcats as a -7.5 point favorite.
Free Pick: Villanova 77, Temple 69
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