The Villanova Wildcats, a borderline blue-blood program in college basketball, have not made the NCAA Tournament since Jay Wright handed the reins over to Kyle Neptune. Now in his third year, Neptune is heading into the Big East Tournament on the hot seat and an early exit could lead to his dismissal.
The good news for Villanova fans is that their Cats have drawn Seton Hall in the first round at Madison Square Garden this week. Shaheen Holloway’s Pirates won just two conference games this season en route to a last-place finish and are currently riding a six-game losing streak. Seton Hall has not made the big dance since Kevin Willard’s final season in 2022 and would need a miracle run in New York City to qualify this year.
The pressure is on both of these third-year head coaches to finally punch their ticket to the big dance, and if Holloway can pull an upset on Wednesday night, Neptune’s fate will be sealed. Here’s how you can watch this Big East Tournament matchup.
How to watch Seton Hall vs. Villanova
- Date: Wednesday, March 12
- Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
- Venue: Madison Square Garden
- How to Watch (TV): Peacock
- Streaming: Peacock
- Seton Hall record: 7-24 (2-18)
- Villanova record: 18-13 (11-9)
Seton Hall vs. Villanova odds, spread and total
Odds provided by FanDuel Sportsbook
Moneyline
- Seton Hall +450
- Villanova -360
Spread
- Seton Hall +10.5 (-110)
- Villanova -10.5 (-110)
Total
- 126.5 (over -110/under -110)
Seton Hall injury report
- Chaunce Jenkins, G: Questionable (hamstring)
Villanova injury report
- Nnanna Njoku, F: OUT (knee)
- Malcolm Thomas, F: Questionable (knee)
Villanova and Seton Hall series history
- Villanova all-time record vs. Seton Hall: 86-44
- Villanova 10-1 in last 11 vs. Seton Hall
Seton Hall vs. Villanova prediction
These teams just met in late February and even in a 59-54 loss, Seton Hall had a pretty effective play for slowing down Villanova. Holloway let Big East leading scorer Eric Dixon get his, with the Villanova senior forward scoring 32 points on 9/17 shooting, but the Pirates took away the Wildcat’s three-point shooters, holding the second-most accurate shooting team in the country to 7/20 from beyond the arc.
Seton Hall is offensively challenged, registering a 96.3 offensive rating (third percentile according to CBBanalytics.com), but the Pirates are disruptive on the defensive end, forcing plenty of turnovers. Sometimes that aggressiveness leads to fouls and Villanova is one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the nation, but with their propensity for the three-point shot, they don’t get to the line much.
If the crew at MSG is calling it close, this game could get lopsided in favor of the Wildcats, but if they’re letting them play, the Pirates should be able to hang around. Dixon is good enough to carry Villanova through the Big East Tournament, and though the Pirates played the Wildcats well last time these teams met, I’ll back Villanova to close out a low-scoring win.