#630 ASA PLAY ON 8* Providence +5 over Villanova, Saturday at 2:30 PM ET - Nova won the Big East regular season title earlier this week beating Creighton at home. They will be the #1 seed in the upcoming conference tourney regardless of what happens in this game. The biggest news coming out of their win over Creighton was the fact they lost PG Gillespie for the rest of the season to a knee injury. That is devastating for the Wildcats as he is their best player and their floor leader. Gillespie averages 14 PPG and 5 assists per game and this will severely limit their depth as they were very thin in that regard to begin with. The Cats rank 328th nationally in bench minutes and often go with a 7 man rotation with an 8th playing very sparingly. They’ll need players to step up to fill their bench minuets that haven’t played much this season. On top of that, Villanova has been shaky on the road down the stretch. They have lost 3 straight on the road, all by double digits vs St Johns, Creighton, and Butler. Their defense as a whole has been way down this year ranking 11th (last) in the Big East in eFG% defense. On the road it’s been worse allowing opponents to hit 48% of their shots overall and 40% of their 3’s. Their last 2 roadies the Cats defense allowed 1.11 PPP vs Butler (who averages 0.95 PPP in conference play) and 1.34 PPP vs Creighton (who averages 1.08 PPP in the Big East). Providence has had their ups & downs with an 8-10 conference record but they do have some solid home wins over Xavier, UConn, Marquette, and Seton Hall. They average 75 PPG at home and have one of the top offensive players in the league in David Duke. Defensively the Friars match up well in this game as they are the #2 three point defense in the Big East and Nova relies heavily on scoring from behind the arc. Now without Gillespie, their most consistent 3-point shooter who has taken more 3’s than anyone else on the Cats, this will be a tough game for Villanova. Providence will bring it in the home finale while Nova has nothing to play for. Take the points.