Villanova (8-0) travels outside of Philadelphia on Tuesday for the first time this season as they head to Madison Square Garden to face #6 ranked Texas (6-1) in the second game of the Jimmy V Classic. The 15th ranked (AP) Wildcats are led by Senior Dante Cunningham who is averaging 17.2 points and 8.0 rebounds a game this season. Scottie Reynolds, Corey Stokes, and Corey Fisher are all avergaing double-digits in scoring.
The Longhorns have been picked to win the Big 12 and are led by senior sharp-shooter AJ Abrams, who is the all-time UT 3-Point shooter. He is averaging 18 points a game this year. 6'7" Damion James is averaging 14.3 points a game and nearly 9 rebounds. James was injured in Texas's game with UCLA but is expected to play.
Texas's lone loss on the season comes at the hands of Notre Dame by one point.
Villanova and Texas played in a "Home & Home" series in 2006 & 2007. The home team won both events with the Wildcats beating the Kevin Durant-led Longhorns two years ago at the Wachovia Center. Those are the only two times the teams have met historically.
The game will follow the West Virginia - Davidson game with an expected tipoff around 9p. The game will be on ESPN nationally with commentary by Dick Vitale and Dan Schulman along with Doris Burke where they will tout the game as #6 vs. #12.
- Jay Wright is 10-9 All-Time coaching at Madison Square Garden.
- Texas's RPI is 35, and their Strength of Schedule is 81. Villanova's are 60 and 253.
Dwayne Anderson is noted as Day-to-Day
12/9 UPDATE: from the Inquirer:
"There's no excuses," Wright said. "Even if Dwayne can play, I don't know how much he's going to be able to give us. But we're good. If everybody stayed healthy here, we could go through the season this way because they're so interchangeable."
Other Previews
- Villanova by the Numbers
- Soft Pretzel Logic will be live-blogging the game
- [Philadelphia Daily News]
- [Inquirer]