College basketball season is in full swing as Saturday features several pairs of ranked teams going head-to-head early in the year. Villanova and Virginia are two teams looking to still be in the conversation come March Madness as they rank No.12 and No.8 respectably. Villanova is coming off a blowout win over La Salle after falling to Oklahoma while the Cavaliers are winners of seven straight including one against West Virginia. Now they put their ranking on the line.
This is the last big out-of-conference test for Villanova as the loss to Oklahoma set them back on the national standings. Now they need to bounce back and try to get the looks against Virginia with an upset win. The Wildcats will ride Josh Hart who remains one of the best shooters in the nation. He is currently shooting 49 percent from beyond the arc as the team's leading scorer. However, against Oklahoma he went just 1-6 from the 3-point line while shooting just 2-9 from the field. That hurt the Wildcats shot of beating a Sooners team that was shooting 50 percent from long range. If Hart can get moving in a better direction this time around while having Daniel Ochefu in the interior, they can pull off the upset. Ochefu got 8 points and 10 rebounds against the Sooners and his defense will be needed against Virginia.
The Cavaliers will rely on their depth to get past Villanova. Anthony Gill and Malcolm Brogdon will lead the scoring attack for the Cavaliers. Brogdon is currently averaging 16.9 points per game while Gill is getting 13.4 per game along with 6.4 rebounds. They will manage the interior of the court which means the Cavaliers will not have to rely on the long ball too much in the game. Their biggest concern will be shutting down the Nova shooting attack from the perimeter. With the Wildcats shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc and the Cavaliers hitting just 27 percent from long range, this game could come down to the outside plays. Virginia is bigger on defense and has players to defend on the wings, but if the Wildcats get into a shooting groove early, the Cavaliers could be in trouble.
