Georgetown vs. Villanova: 2019-20 college basketball game preview, TV schedule

Georgetown and Villanova will look to keep pace in the Big East Conference race when these two long-time rivals meet on Saturday.

TV schedule: Saturday, January 11, 12:00 pm ET. FS1.
Arena: Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

Georgetown, considered by many prognosticators as a bubble bunch for the 2020 March Madness, will seek out a signature success when it heads to Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon to square off with Villanova. The Hoyas (11-5, 1-2) dominated St. John’s in their most recent encounter, while the No. 16 Wildcats (11-3, 2-1) snuck by Creighton.

It’s proven an up-and-down season to date for Georgetown, which has seen several of its players elect to transfer, diminishing the Hoyas’ depth. Georgetown can boast of victories versus then-No. 22 Texas, Oklahoma State, SMU and Syracuse, while the Hoyas have fallen to Penn State, then-No. 1 Duke, UNC Greensboro in a head-scratcher, and both Providence and Seton Hall on the road.

Villanova, meanwhile, has defeated the likes of then-No. 1 Kansas, Xavier and Mississippi State. The Wildcats’ setbacks are to highly rated Baylor and Ohio State, as well as at Marquette.

This Big East bruiser is important for a couple of reasons. For one, Georgetown and Villanova each have already lost in league competition, and neither crew wants to drop even further behind the conference’s top-tier teams.

This affair also has Big Dance implications. At this juncture, the Wildcats, at No. 20 in the NCAA NET system, are viewed by bracketologists as a No. 5 seed in March Madness. The Hoyas, at No. 50 in the NET, are viewed in the “first four out” category. Therefore, with an achievement, Villanova can maybe move toward a better line, and Georgetown may perhaps land on the happy side of the proverbial bubble.

A lot of statistical departments among these groups are really, really close, with the Hoyas having a slight edge over the Wildcats in the bulk of them. In my estimation, the key for Georgetown is to pound the offensive glass and secure boatloads of second-chance points. For Villanova, well, its foe here commits a whopping 15.0 turnovers every 40 minutes. The Wildcats should have a prime occasion to feast on the Hoyas as it pertains to transition buckets.

According to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, Villanova is the favorite to prevail against Georgetown, at 78.6 percent, given its home-court advantage. In all honesty, I could see either program staging a triumph, but I’ll go with the Wildcats over the Hoyas in a tight tilt.

Prediction: Villanova 76 – Georgetown 70