The conference opponents meet tonight when Seton Hall travels to Villanova.

The two teams had relatively similar, uninspiring starts to the season. Everyone has suffered losses they shouldn’t have, and everyone will come into the evening with a winning record in the conference when we delve into my Seton Hall vs. Villanova predictions.

The Wildcats have been playing better basketball lately, rattling off four straight wins, including an 8-point win over Cincinnati. Seton Hall has been on a tear with back-to-back losses lately.

Read on for my college basketball picks for Tuesday, December 17th.

Seton Hall vs Villanova Prediction

My best choice
Eric Dixon More than 2.5 threes (+125 at bet365)

My analysis

If the Villanova Wildcats were any better, Eric Dixon would be in the discussion for National Player of the Year, and even without team success, he’ll likely end the season with some cheers. That’s because Dixon is currently leading the nation in scoring with 54% shooting from the field and over 50% from deep.

We’ll focus on the second point and grab Dixon to get over 2.5 threes with a very reasonable number.

Let us look primarily at the situational aspect that plays a role here. This is the second time this season that Dixon has failed to exceed this number. This happened against Fairleigh Dickinson, where he scored well overall but had one of his worst nights of the season, going 1-4 from distance. The last time this happened this season was in November in a blowout win against NJIT. He then scored the most attempts of the season from deep, knocking down four of them. This moment of optimism that he has shown throughout his career and this season gives confidence here, and that also applies to the duel.

Because of the Seton Hall Pirates’ defense, this number is very attractive at +125. That’s good. It’s their program’s calling card, and entering this matchup, Seton Hall ranks 36th in Kenpom defensive efficiency, making up a large portion of that overall ranking in the mid-120s. However, the only spot it has a hard time defending is where Dixon can do damage to them.

Seton Hall allows 1.02 points per possession on dribble jumpers compared to the national average of 0.89. A dribble jumper is primarily defined by an off-field shot that arises from isolation plays. Not only is Dixon the best one-on-one scorer on the floor tonight, he’ll also be responsible for the most iso plays, averaging about eight per game. Given the way he’s playing and having an uncharacteristic shooting night from distance, I’d like to see him surpass that number given the matchup issues for the Pirates.

Same parlay between Seton Hall and Villanova

Eric Dixon More than 2.5 threes

Below 126.5

It’s worth getting the obvious boost from a non-correlation here, so I’m combining the under with my best bet.

Outside of Dixon’s Hero Ball – of which there will be many – is me I find it hard to see either team scoring consistently in the half court. Seton Hall’s offense is pretty terrible and both teams are good at getting each other out of decisive sets.

Villanova will have success if Dixon gets off the dribble from time to time, but even those hits will run down the shot clock and slow the tempo in this game to a crawl.

Learn how to place a bet in the same game with these helpful tips and strategies.

Seton Hall vs Villanova odds

Seton Hall vs Villanova live odds

Seton Hall vs. Villanova opening odds

• Spread: Seton Hall +9 (-115) | Villanova +9 (-105)
• Money line: Seton Hall +350 | Villanova -450
• Over/Under: Over 127 | Under 127

Odds courtesy of bet365

Seton Hall vs Villanova betting trend to know

Seton Hall has reached the 1H money line in 24 of its last 38 games (+10.00 units / 8% ROI). Find more college basketball betting trends for Seton Hall vs. Villanova.

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