City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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After a week loaded with Big 5 basketball, four CoBL-area teams will travel to neutral courts on Saturday to take on high-profile out-of-conference foes in two doubleheaders, the Never Forget Tribute Classic at the Prudential Center (Newark, NJ.) and at the Miami Hoophall Invitational at American Airlines Arena. Here’s our preview:

Never Forget Tribute Classic
Game 1: No.1 Villanova (9-0) vs. No. 23 Notre Dame (9-0), 12:00 PM (CBSSN)
The top team in the country will be taking on fellow undefeated Notre Dame in the first game at the Prudential Center. This game boasts two of the nine remaining undefeated teams in college basketball battling to remain without a loss in a clash of two former conference opponents. Villanova is coming off of a close victory over Big 5 opponent La Salle, topping the Explorers 89-79 at the Palestra on Tuesday night. The Wildcats are being led on the season by senior National Player of the Year candidate Josh Hart, who is averaging 17.6 points per contest and is also leading the Wildcats with 6.7 rebounds per game as well. Also averaging double figures for Villanova are senior Kris Jenkins (14.2 ppg), sophomore Jalen Brunson (13.2) and redshirt sophomore Mikal Bridges (11.1 ppg). For the Wildcats, look out for the return of National Championship hero Phil Booth, who has been sidelined for the past six games with knee inflammation, but Villanova head coach Jay Wright has been hinting at his return for some time now and there is no better time than a clash with the Irish. 

This will be Villanova’s second matchup against a ranked opponent during the 2016-17 season, as they topped No. 18 Purdue by a score of 79-76 on November 14th. For Notre Dame, whose 9-0 start is the best in school history, they are coming off of an 87-72 win over in-state foe Indiana University/Purdue University-Fort Wayne on Tuesday. The Irish are being led by reigning ACC Player of the Week, Bonzie Colson, who is averaging 17.1 points per game while reeling in a conference-best 11.1 boards as well. St. Joseph’s Prep (Pa.) graduate Steve Vasturia is right behind Colson, averaging 16.4 points per contest in his final season in the blue and gold. A scary statistic for Wildcat fans is that Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey is 7-4 in his career when facing defending National Champions.

A key to victory for Villanova will be keeping Notre Dame off of the free-throw line, as the Irish are the best free-throw shooting team in Division I basketball, shooting .859 from the stripe as a team on the young season. This effort is headed by junior guard Matt Farrell, who is a perfect 24-for-24 to date.

In this ranked matchup, be on the lookout for an overwhelming amount of points to come from beyond the arc, as both squads rank in the top ten nationally in three-pointers made per game. Notre Dame ranks 5th with 11.0 made threes per game, while Villanova is not far behind coming in 10th, with 10.6

Game 2: Penn State (6-4) vs. Pittsburgh (7-2), 2:30 PM (CBSSN)
In the back end of the Newark doubleheader, these in-state rivals will go to battle as two NCAA Tournament hopefuls will look to improve their out-of-conference resumes. Penn State is looking to bounce back from an 85-66 defeat that came at the hands of George Mason on Wednesday night while Pitt will look to build on their Wednesday night 84-79 victory over Buffalo. For Penn State, whose starting lineup includes four Philadelphia-area natives, they are being led by Roman Catholic (Pa.) graduates junior Shep Garner, and freshmen Lamar Stevens and Tony Carr, who are averaging 14.6, 12.5, and 11.0 points per game, respectively. Rounding out the starting lineup for Penn State are Payton Banks (11.6 ppg) and Phelps School (Pa.) graduate Mike Watkins (9.5 ppg, team-high 7.3 rpg). Penn State will look to improve to 2-1 against ACC foes this season, after losing to Duke by a score of 78-68 on November 19th, and then topping Georgia Tech 67-60 just ten days later.

Pitt, who is 5-1 in their last six contests, has been relying heavily on the efforts of seniors Michael Young and Jamel Artis. Young, the leading scorer in the ACC with 22.3 points per game, is also leading the Panthers in rebounds per game with 7.9. Artis, who is not far behind Young with 19.3 points per contest, finds himself three spots behind Young on the ACC scoring list in fourth place. In the all-time series between the two schools, Penn State will look to use its influx of young, local talent to end Pitt’s current six game winning streak.

Miami Hoophall Invitational
Game 1: Temple (6-3) vs. DePaul (5-2), 11:30 AM (ESPNU)
After seeing their five-game win streak come to a halt following a devastating 66-63 loss to George Washington at home on Wednesday night, Temple will try to rebound as they take on their first of two consecutive Big East foes, DePaul, to kick off the Miami Hoophall Invitational. For the Owls, Obi Enechionyia has been unstoppable, as the 6-10 senior is averaging a team-high 19.0 points per game, while adding in another team-high 7.8 rebounds per contest. Enechionyia also finds himself 11th on the blocks per game leaderboard nationally, with 3.2 per game. Carrying the rest of the scoring load for the Owls are sophomore Shizz Alston Jr. (12.3 ppg), senior Daniel Dingle (12.1 ppg) and freshman sixth man Quinton Rose (11.0 ppg).

For DePaul, whose 5-2 record is a pleasant surprise after finishing just 9-22 last year, the Blue Demons will be on a quest for their first win against a major-conference opponent on the young season. The key matchup in this contest will be to see how Temple coach Fran Dunphy goes about defending DePaul leading scorer Eli Cain, who at 6-6 does his damage in a variety of ways from around the rim to stretching his game out beyond the three-point arc. Cain comes into the contest averaging 19.4 points per contest, which is good enough for 4th in the Big East.

Temple’s big men, Ernest Aflakpui and Mark Williams, will have their hands full in this contest, with the Blue Demons doing most of their scoring damage inside the paint. The Blue Demons rank 335th out of the 347 Division I teams in three-point attempts on the season.

Game 2: La Salle (4-3) vs. Georgetown (5-4), 2:00 PM (ESPN2)
After losing a heartbreaking game to No.1 Villanova on Tuesday, La Salle will try to bounce back in its second straight game against a Big East opponent as they will go to battle with Georgetown to close out the event in Miami. Georgetown comes into the contest with a three-game winning streak and will look to build their out-of-conference resume that already includes a victory over No. 24 Oregon back on November 21st. La Salle, who has recently been playing a small lineup consisting of no one taller than 6-7 for a majority of their minutes, will have their hands full with Georgetown sophomore big man Jessie Govan, who comes in at 6-10 and 270 pounds. Govan, who hails from Wings Academy (NY.), outweighs La Salle’s starting center, Tony Washington, by 40 pounds, is third on the team in scoring, averaging 8.8 points per contest. Another problem-causer for La Salle will be fifth-year senior Rodney Pryor, who is tied for the Big East lead in scoring with 20.8 points per game.

La Salle will need to use their special brand of basketball in order to top the storied Georgetown Hoyas. The Explorers have been exceptional from beyond the arc this season, as well as at keeping the ball from their opponent. Georgetown will have to make sure their defense is at its best when they take on La Salle as the Explorers are currently 14th in the country in three-point percentage, shooting .416 from beyond the arc as a squad. In addition, the team from 20th and Olney has been stingy to opponents’ defenses, coming in at 13th nationally in turnovers committed to date with just 82 in their seven contests. La Salle’s duo of senior Cleon Roberts (10.3 ppg) and redshirt junior B.J. Johnson (team-high 17.9 ppg) have been creating problems for opponents all season long, as the duo both rank in the top five in the Atlantic 10 in three-point percentage, with Johnson stroking it to a tune of .457 and Roberts leads the conference with a blistering .600 mark from deep, which was aided by a streak of 10 consecutive makes over the Explorers’ two contests against Texas Southern and Drexel.