Top-25 foes meet in Big East clash

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/10/2009 - Villanova, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 13th-ranked Villanova Wildcats will try to continue their run tonight, as they host the 10th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles in a Big East battle at the Pavilion.

The Wildcats have clawed their way back from a 2-3 start in league play by winning each of their past five outings. The conference winning streak is the team's longest since the 2005-06 season and includes a 102-85 besting of Syracuse on Saturday. Villanova now stands at 19-4 overall and its 7-3 conference record is good for the fifth position in the Big East.

One of the squads the Wildcats are chasing is Marquette, which held sole possession of first place for a few days before suffering a stunning 57-56 upset at South Florida on Friday. The Eagles had won their first nine conference contests prior to the setback that snapped the team's lengthy 12- game winning streak. Still, at 20-3 overall, Marquette has nothing to be ashamed about, and it has also fared well on the road, going 5-1 as the visitor.

The Eagles topped the Wildcats in the first meeting of the season, 79-72, and that win knotted the head-to-head series at 6-6.

The Eagles are a versatile and athletic club and they are generating a healthy 80.2 ppg, with four of their starters doing a majority of the damage. Jerel McNeal is one of the top players in the Big East and he enters the game just 21 points shy of breaking George Thompson's school record for career points at Marquette. The well-rounded McNeal is currently averaging a hardy 20.0 ppg to pace the Eagles and he also adds 4.6 rpg and 3.7 apg, in addition to shooting 47.2 percent from long range. Wesley Matthews checks in with 18.9 ppg and 5.6 rpg, and Lazar Hayward contributes 15.7 ppg and a team-high 8.7 rpg. Dominic James chips in with 11.7 ppg and he is handing out 5.1 apg to lead the team in that department. On Friday, McNeal poured in 22 points for the Eagles, but it wasn't enough in a shocking loss at USF. James and Matthews each had 11 points, and Hayward pulled down 14 caroms. Matthews, though, missed a six- footer with time winding down and Hayward's putback was also off the mark, as the Eagles were unable to overcome their shooting woes in the loss.

The Wildcats are another versatile team in the Big East and they head into this bout scoring 76.0 ppg and limiting foes to just 38.5 percent shooting from the floor. Dante Cunningham leads the team with both 17.1 ppg and 7.3 rpg and he is a big reason why Villanova has been able to outrebound opponent by a solid 5.1 rpg. Scottie Reynolds logs 14.9 ppg and a team-high 3.9 apg, while Corey Fisher chips in with 10.2 ppg. On Saturday, Cunningham went off for 31 points and nine boards to power the Wildcats in a win over Syracuse. Corey Stokes had 16 points and eight boards off the bench and Fisher added 14 points and six assists. The Wildcats shot an efficient 54.5 percent from the floor, while also winning the battle on the boards, 46-37.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.