VILLANOVA WILDCATS ARE MATCHED AGAINST A TALENTED UNDEFEATED BAYLOR TEAM

 By: Demi Sedereas 

Photo By: CBS Sports 

Sixth ranked team Villanova goes up against last year's March Madness Rivals, fourth ranked team Baylor on December 12th. 

With the Bears being one of the biggest rivalry teams the Wildcats will have to face off this season, Villanova head coach Jay Wright will have to have the perfect line up ready for this game. Nova's key players this season are Brandon Slater with 69 baskets; Justin Moore with 98 baskets and 23 rebounds; and of course point guard Collin Gillepsie with 80 baskets, 20 assists and 8 steals this season. It should be expected for them to be a huge part in the game.

Head Coach Scott Drew for the Bears will most definitely be expected to put in his star trio LJ Cryer, James Akinjo, and Jonathon Tchamwa Tchatchoua. Akinjo with 46 assists and 17 steals; Tchamwa Tchatchoua has 53 rebounds; and Cryer with 103 points. 

The main goal for the Wildcats is to keep a strong offense up for the bears. Baylor’s powerful defense is able to get most of their points from turnovers and in transitions. Villanova has an extremely strong defense, during turnovers and in transitions the bears should be ready for anything to happen. 

Last year the Bears had the highest three point percentage in the nation averaging 30 pts per game. However, will Baylor stay on top after losing key player Jared Butler.

According to Baylor head coach Drew, “There’s enough returning players that you have an identity and a culture and they know how and what it takes to be successful. At the same time, you have enough new players that there’s a lot of excitement and energy because anytime something’s new, normally that excites everybody.”  

Wildcats have a top form defense that employs a ¾ court trap helping force turnovers in their favor, but in some games they do not start out as aggressively as they should, creating big leads in the beginning of the game that are harder to catch up to later on. 

According to Villanova News head coach Wright said, “It helped us keep our defense intensity up. That’s something that has affected us in the past when we didn’t have depth.”

In the 2021 NCAA tournament first seed Baylor played Villanova who was the 5th seed. Baylor beat Villanova 62-51 kicking them out of the tournament on March 27th, 2021. Baylor went on winning the NCAA men’s basketball championship. Baylor also played Villanova on November 24th, 2019 and beat them 87-78.

The undefeated Bears started the season off strong with an 87-60 win against the Incarnate Word Cardinals and have not lost their rhythm since defeating 22 ranked Michigan State 75-58. Baylor is 7-0 and is undefeated so far. 

 4-2 Wildcats only lost against second ranked Purdue and fifth ranked UCLA but they kept it close in numbers during both games.

Villanova is currently ranked first in Bug east and Baylor is currently first in Big 12. Over the past three seasons Villanova has a combined record of 68-24 and Baylor has a combined record of 74-20. At this current time, the Bears have a better record than the Wildcat’s and are more likely to win but you never know what can happen. The Wildcats can suddenly decide to start playing as a team and be an unstoppable match or not and get crushed by the Bears.

 

The Pick: Baylor 60, Villanova 53