Marquette Golden Eagles at Villanova Wildcats, The Pavilion, Villanova, PA
Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 7:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPNU
Opening Line: Villanova -6
Current Line: Villanova -6
Opening Total: 151
Current Total: 151
Money Line: Villanova -265 / Marquette +225
The 12th-ranked Villanova Wildcats (17-4, 5-3 Big East) will try to avoid a three-game losing streak when they host the Marquette Golden Eagles (14-8, 5-4) in a key conference matchup on Wednesday. The Wildcats (-6) are already riding a season-long two-game skid and have dropped three of their last four, which is exactly what Marquette was suffering through before pulling off a 76-70 home win over Syracuse.
Villanova is coming off a 69-66 home loss to Georgetown on Saturday after falling at Providence 83-68 a week ago. Senior guard Corey Stokes has struggled over his last five games since scoring 23 points in an 88-74 win over Louisville on January 12. Stokes is averaging just 9.6 points during that stretch, failing to crack double figures three times after scoring 19 or more in five of his previous six games. He averaged 13 points in three meetings with the Golden Eagles last year.
Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns led the Wildcats in the loss to the Hoyas with 15 points apiece while nobody on the team could figure out a way to stop Austin Freeman, who scored a game-high 30. Freeman connected on 10 of 19 shots from the field and made all eight of his free throws as Georgetown shots over 52 percent as a team.
Marquette has dropped three straight league games away from home but enjoyed life at the Bradley Center against the Orange on Saturday. The Golden Eagles also shot 52 percent from the field and won despite allowing Syracuse to shoot 57 percent. The big difference in that game came at the charity stripe, where they made 10 more free throws (24) than the Orange attempted (14).
After playing three of four games at home, Marquette begins a tough stretch of three consecutive road games before returning to Milwaukee on February 15. The Golden Eagles are giving up nearly 76 points per game on the road this season on 50 percent shooting from the field. They also average almost seven rebounds per game less away from home.
Still, Marquette is 8-2 against the spread in the last 10 meetings with Villanova even though the teams have split those games straight-up. The Wildcats are 4-1 SU in the past five meetings, but the last four games have all been decided by four points or less. The OVER is 7-1 in the last eight meetings between the teams.
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