Villanova Basketball: 3 keys for Wildcats matchup vs No. 17 Tennessee

VILLANOVA, PA - NOVEMBER 16: Justin Moore #5, Caleb Daniels #14, Brandon Slater #3, and Chris Arcidiacono #4 of the Villanova Wildcats react against the Howard Bison at Finneran Pavilion on November 16, 2021 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

3 of 4

Justin Moore Villanova Basketball (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

2. Limit Tennessee’s offensive rebounds and second-chance points

Villanova is a fairly average defensive rebounding team, ranking 192nd in the country in defensive rebounding percentage (DR%). That said, Tennessee is an outstanding offensive rebounding team, ranking third nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (OR%).

The Vols frontcourt trio of Josiah-Jordan James, Olivier Nkamhoua, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield all rank nationally in OR%—not to mention All-SEC super-senior PF John Fulkerson.

As for Nova, the team as a whole ranks 90th in average height, a very respectable number helped greatly by the size of both Gillespie (6-3) and Justin Moore (6-4) as well as Brandon Slater’s size (6-7) at small forward. However, the team’s effective height—that of the power forward and center—is 226th nationally (per KenPom). This is important when it comes to offensive rebounding against a team like Tennessee and a player like Huntley-Hatfield (6-10, 246 lbs.).

It is always a good idea to make a Rick Barnes-coached team earn points out of their half-court offense.