No. 3 Ranked Villanova is set to tip-off against Boston College to start the 2020-21 season.
TV Schedule: Wednesday, November 25th, 9:30 pm ET, ESPN
Arena: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT.
The college basketball experience will be completely different in 2020-2021. In the midst of a pandemic, the seats will be completely empty at some arenas, while other programs have set limits on the fan capacity for this season. As for this matchup, no fans will be allowed to attend the neutral site games at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
While it won’t be anything close to a perfect season, the goal for college basketball is to finish the season and to have an NCAA Tournament in 2021. To open up the 2020-21 season, the nationally-ranked (No. 3) Villanova Wildcats will meet the Boston College Eagles as part of the 2K Empire Classic Semifinals at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.
The winner of No. 3 Villanova vs Boston College will face the winner of No. 18 Arizona State/Rhode Island in the 2K Empire Classic Finals on Thursday, November 26th at 9:30 p.m. ET. While, the losers of the two games will square off in the 2K Empire Classic Third Place Game on Thursday, November 26th at 7:00 p.m. ET.
This will be the 77th meeting between Villanova and Boston College, with the Wildcats dominating the head-to-head series 52-24. The matchup between the Wildcats and Eagles will be the first time they have faced each other since the 2006 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 when Villanova won in overtime 60-59.
During the last decade, the two programs have gone in opposite directions. Since 2010, Villanova has made eight NCAA Tournament appearances, en route to two National Championships in 2016 and 2018. Meanwhile, Boston College has constantly struggled and last appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2009.
Also, both head coaches are in two completely different positions as far as job security heading into the 2020-21 season. Villanova head coach, Jay Wright, is aiming for another national title during his 20th season. While, Boston College head coach, Jim Christian, is trying to keep his position while being on the hot-seat. Christian has only posted one winning season during his six seasons for the Eagles. He currently has an overall record of just 75-119 at Boston College.
During the 2019-20 season, Villanova won their last seven of eight games to finish in a three-way tie at 13-5 in Big East play with Creighton and Seton Hall. Boston College went in the complete opposite direction, dropping their last seven of eight games to finish tied for tenth in the ACC, going 7-13 in the conference.
Villanova only lost one key player from their roster in the offseason, which was the Big East three-point shooting leader and Villanova’s leading scorer last season, Saddiq Bey (16.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg), who went to the NBA Draft.
Wright will have the rest of his starters back with senior point guard and 2019-20 All-Big East Second-Team selection, Collin Gillespie (15.1 ppg, 4.5 apg), sophomore guard Justin Moore (11.3 ppg), senior forward Jermaine Samuels (10.7 ppg), and sophomore forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (10.5 ppg, 9.4 rpg). Both Moore and Robinson-Earl were selected to the 2019-20 Big East All-Freshman Team.
Helping out the depth of Villanova’s roster will be junior guard transfer, Caleb Daniels, who sat-out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. He averaged 16.9 points per game for Tulane during the 2018-19 season.
Also, junior forward, Cole Swider (6.1 ppg), who was the sixth-man off the bench last season is back to boost the Wildcats roster. Increasing the roster depth off the bench will be returning forwards Brandon Slater and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, and guards Bryan Antoine and Chris Arcidiacono.
In 2019-20, Villanova was highly reliant upon their shots from the perimeter, attempting a league-most 27.9 three-point attempts per game. The Wildcats were also 12th nationally in three-pointers made, with perimeter shooting playing a huge part during their games last season.
As for Boston College, the Eagles lost a good portion of their roster in the offseason with three starters who left the program. Christian will be without his second, third, fourth, and fifth scorers from last season with Derryck Thornton (12.7 ppg), Nik Popovic (10.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg), Jairus Hamilton (9.5 ppg), and Jared Hamilton (7.8 ppg), who all left in the offseason.
Even with all the players who left the roster in the offseason, the Eagles were able to receive some positive news that sophomore guard Wynston Tabbs will be returning. Tabbs averaged 13.9 points per game in 2018-19 as a freshman and is set to be back after missing all of last season due to a knee injury.
The two key players from last season who are returning for Boston College will be leading rebounder and senior forward, Steffon Mitchell (7.8 ppg, 8.7 rpg), and sophomore guard, Jay Heath (13.1 ppg), who led the Eagles in scoring as a freshman.
New to the projected starting lineup for the Eagles will be grad transfer guard Rich Kelly (16.7 ppg), from Quinnipiac, and grad transfer forward Frederick Scott (12.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg), from Rider. Both mid-major grad transfers will get a taste of power conference basketball right away, as they will have to quickly adjust to the high-level of play.
What to expect from Villanova in this matchup is they will look to get hot early and often from three-point range. Once the Wildcats get on a run and their shots start dropping, then it will be difficult for the Eagles to stop them with multiple scorers and playmakers on the roster.
The Eagles struggled to convert their shots last season, where they were 335th nationally in shooting percentage and 305th in three-point shooting percentage. If Boston College wants to make this a game, they will need to be competitive right from the start, get good looks to knock down shots, and make big plays. The Eagles will also need to defend at a high-level to stop Villanova from getting into a rhythm with hitting their shots, especially from the perimeter.
Heading into its season opener, Villanova has incredibly high expectations with all the talent they bring back to the roster. The Wildcats appear to be an early title contender. While Boston College will start season play with a high-quality opponent. The Eagles will look to pull off a massive upset with the hope to flip the script this season to save Christian’s position.
Prediction: Villanova 74, Boston College 58