Samantha Axon, Reporter
@SAxonCourant
While some people may associate the holiday season with snow, presents, and studying for midterms, for many of us, it means that the college basketball season is now in full swing. With March Madness creeping closer every week, there is no better time than now to start following teams and developing a rough plan of possible brackets. Whether you are planning on watching just a few games or the rest of the season, the game to watch this week pits Villanova Wildcats against the University of Virginia Cavaliers.
Villanova has proven to be a strong team with their 8-1 record, moving them up to first place in the Big East Conference. They have scored an average 76 points a game so far this season with help from key players such as Josh Hart and Ryan Arcidiacono, who have scored a combined average of 27.3 points per game. While the Wildcats have scored very well in their previous games, I question how they will respond when going against a top-25 team.
The team for the most part has played mediocre teams that are unranked. The one exception was when they played the Oklahoma Sooners, who are currently ranked number number 7 in the standings. Villanova fell to the Sooners 78 to 55, the team’s only loss of the season. Since the Wildcats were crushed by Oklahoma, losing by 23 points, I am not sure about how they compare when facing off against top 25 teams compared to their last performance.
Throughout the season the Cavaliers have gone through the rankings with a high of rank 6 and a low at 12. They now comfortably sit in 10th position. Virginia’s only loss of the season so far has been against George Washington University who now has a record of 8 and 1. Only once has UVA allowed the opposing team to score more than 70 points in a game, with opponents having only scored an average 57 points per game. In their game against number 14 ranked West Virginia, Virginia only allowed 54 points to be scored, and won by 16.
The team’s greatest strength at the moment is their defensive skills, which many other college-level teams, especially those in the top 25, have currently been struggling with. Standout redshirt sophomore, Darius Thompson, has had average 1.2 steals per game, 2 blocks so far this season, and 20 total assists after transferring to the team after his freshman year at the University of Tennessee.
While UVA has been very strong defensively, they have struggled with putting points on the board. In the last three games, the Cavaliers have not scored more than 70 points. Since the team has had a strong defense, they were able to hold off Ohio State, William and Mary, and West Virginia, but this strategy may prove to be difficult when playing against such a high scoring team.
Prediction: While both teams have done very well thus far, I will have to go with Virginia for this game. The Wildcats have struggled against the ranked teams that they have faced off against. In comparison, the Cavaliers have had a strong defensive presence in the game and may be able to hold off Villanova.
