Villanova Wildcats vs Maryland Terrapins Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 11/24/24

A Sunday afternoon matchup will be taking place between the Villanova Wildcats and the Maryland Terrapins that will be played at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Villanova has endured a shaky start to its season, sitting at 3-3 including a buy game loss to Columbia. As for the Terps, they are 4-1 with 4 dominant buy-game performances — but they lost their only true test of the season in a 78-74 game against Marquette. Both teams are fairly close to this venue, so we can assume a close to 50/50 split when it comes to fan support, so there is no real edge there.

Maryland does have a few advantages in this game, with the first being on the defensive end. Villanova prefers to run their offense through the versatile Eric Dixon, but Maryland has plenty of options to guard him 1-on-1. The frontcourt of Julian Reese and Derik Queen has enough size and is mobile enough to at least contain the Wildcats big man, and that will go a long way in this contest. Villanova loves hunting mismatches and forcing teams to help so they can get the ball to their 3-point shooters, but having a versatile defense like Maryland will be key in negating that offensive path for them. Maryland has a size and athleticism advantage and that should give Villanova fits on Sunday.

Maryland’s size may also give them an advantage on the offensive end. If they are able to work through Derik Queen and Julian Reese consistently, they may be able get Dixon into early foul trouble and that would be devastating to a Wildcat offense that essentially relies on him. The Terrapins also have capable shooters in Jakobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice to make Villanova pay if they need to send double teams at the Terrapins frontcourt duo. Maryland is a team on the rise, as their performance against Marquette now looks much better due to the Golden Eagles recent success. This is most likely an underrated Terrapins squad, and we should take advantage while we can.

Villanova vs Maryland prediction: Maryland -5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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