I Bleed Blue and White

The Game: #6 Villanova (12-1, 1-0) vs. DePaul (7-7, 0-2)

Location: The Pavilion 

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Broadcast: WPHL (Scott Graham and John Celestand calling the action)

Brief Rundown: Villanova is coming off a thrilling road win at Marquette, which may point to a letdown game tomorrow night against an extremely weak DePaul squad.  In addition, with the students still on Christmas break, the Pavilion won’t be as electric as usual.  Nonetheless, the Cats should be fired up for their first home game in two weeks and keeping the Pavilion winning streak alive.  Ironically, who was the last loss to at the on-campus arena?  The DePaul Blue Demons.

As previously stated, DePaul is not a good ballclub.  Picked to finish dead last in the Big East, the Blue Demons are .500 this year, including losses to Pitt and Georgetown in conference thus far.  Frankly, keeping this game close would be a win for the visiting team.  The only two names I even recognize on the roster are junior big guy Mac Koshwal and senior guard Will Walker.  Koshwal has 19 career double-doubles, while Walker can hit the three ball. 

Last Time Out: The Cats let the pitiful Blue Demons hang around last year at AllState Arena, with the aforementioned Walker lighting it up from deep late in the game.  Eventually, the heavy-favored Villanova team squeaked out the win 74-72.   

What I Want To See: Obviously, I want to see the home team jump over all the Blue Demons early on, putting them out of their misery.  This really should be a given considering the opponent, but what I’m more interested in is the play of Corey Stokes.  Regardless of who they are playing, Stokes needs one of those breakout games, where he shoots lights out from downtown.  We haven’t seen that this year, and sharpshooters like Stokes sometimes only need one real good game to break out of a slump.  I’m also a huge fan of DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright and his facial expressions, as he always has the same stoic, helpless look regardless of the situation.  He’s a good basketball man, but his days at DePaul are numbered, especially after a winless conference campaign last season.