Marquette vs Villanova College Basketball Predictions, College Basketball Odds & College Basketball Picks: The World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, will be the sight for today’s Big East quarterfinals matchup between the Marquette Golden Eagles [+5½] taking on the 10th ranked Villanova Wildcats [-5½]. These rivals are set to tip things off at 2:30 PM ET (1:30 PM CT) and the OVER/UNDER between Marquette and the Wildcats is set at a combined total of 142½ points.
For Marquette, this team has proven that it can pick up its level of play against more talented opponents and vice versa. The Golden Eagles are coming off a 2-point victory over St. John’s in the tourney’s second round after blowing a 14-point second half lead. Lazar Hayward led the way with 20 points and 9 rebounds for Marquette, who has now won 10 of its last 12 when facing conference rivals.
“Everything has changed,” Golden Eagles head coach Buzz Williams said. “The whole deal is this, our margin of error has never changed. The games that we lost, the lessons we learned, are just as important as the games we won by one or two possessions as well.”
For the sports betting odds favorite Wildcats, this team enters the Big East tournament after a 13-5 season for the second consecutive year. Much like last year, Villanova’s postseason run began with a highly contested win over Marquette, but under different circumstances.
Villanova had won 11 of 13 to finish last year’s season. This time around, Jay Wright’s team finished just 4-5 down the stretch but gained a little momentum with a with a 68-66 win over 10th ranked West Virginia.
“We are getting better even though it doesn’t show sometimes in wins and losses,” Wright said. “We’re getting better defensively, we’re getting a little bit better rebounding-wise. And we just played better teams at the end of the schedule.”
