College Hoops JOES and NOVA

St. Joseph’s Hawks vs. Villanova Wildcats 8:00 PM

Non-conference college basketball betting match-ups continue on Thursday night with another fantastic showdown, and BetOnline customers will get another chance to sink their teeth into a sports betting duel between the St. Joseph’s Hawks (4-4, 3-3 ATS) and the Villanova Wildcats (8-1, 3-3 ATS).

The Wildcats have garnered a lot of national attention, as they rank 12th in the country. A lot is expected of HC Jay Wright’s Wildcats as they move closer to March Madness. St. Joe’s has gotten off to a rocky start this year, something that HC Phil Martelli will have to reverse if the Hawks are to go dancing in the spring.

Oddsmakers didn’t give the Hawks much respect in their last NCAA betting match-up, as they were only four-point favorites against Towson. The Tigers stood no chance from the get-go though, as the Hawks opened up a seven-point halftime lead and cruised to an 85-64 victory. The day belonged to C Ahmad Nivins and G Darrin Govens. Nivins came a rebound short of a double double, as he hauled in nine boards to go with his team-high 25 points while Govens chipped in 22 points. The duo combined to shoot 16/25 from the field, a large part of why the Hawks shot a sparkling 51.7% from the floor against the Tigers.

Only two players on Towson reached double digits in points. The Hawks will only go as far as their center takes them, as Nivins leads the team in points per game (19.1), rebounds per game (11.4), field goal percentage (68.8%), and blocks per game (2.2). They’ll need to do better than average on the offense end of the floor to have any chance against the potent Wildcats, as they rank 206th in the country scoring just 67.0 points per game.

After opening up the season 8-0, the Wildcats got a huge wake-up call in the form of a 67-58 defeat in Madison Square Garden to the Texas Longhorns as a part of the Jimmy V Classic. There was just no answer for Texas G AJ Abrams, who led all scorers with 26 points. F Daunte Cunningham was the lone highlight for Nova. He scored 23 points on 9/14 shooting, and grabbed 12 boards to lead the way. Guards Corey Stokes and Scottie Reynolds also scored in double digits.

If you take away Cunningham’s shooting performance, the Wildcats only shot 27.8% from the field and 23.5% from beyond the arc. They turned the ball over 19 times in a very uncharacteristically sloppy performance. It all added up to another loss for Villanova bettors, who will be hoping for a better outing on Thursday night.

Villanova should be feeling good about this City of Brotherly Love showdown, they have been installed as 10-point favorites on the college basketball betting line. The ‘total’ sits at 129.

The Wildcats are 6-2-1 ATS in the L/9 meetings between these teams, but the better betting trends point towards a lower scoring affair. The ‘under’ is 7-3 in the L/10 for the Hawks, and 21-7-1 in the L/29 for the Wildcats.

Login to your BetOnline account right now and get in on this fantastic match-up before the game tips off!