Daily Cup of City 6 (2/18/14)

By Sean Kennedy

Today’s Action

7:00 PM: Villanova (22-3, 10-2) @ Providence (17-9, 7-6 Big East) – Fox Sports 1

Coming off just their third loss of the season, the Wildcats will travel to Rhode Island to face a Providence team plummeting down the Big East standings. The Friars have lost 4 of their past 6 games, with those two victories both coming against a last-place DePaul club. In these teams’ first meeting this season, Villanova hit 14 threes and forced 17 turnovers to smoke Providence by 30 points at the Pavilion in early January.

Senior point guard Bryce Cotton continues to be Mr. Do-Everything for the Friars, averaging 21 points and 6 assists. Cotton almost literally never leaves the court, having played at least 39 minutes in each of the last 18 games; he was practically the lone bright spot in the first game between these teams, scoring 25 points. The Wildcats will counter with James Bell, averaging 20 points per game over the past 9 contests. With Bell hot from the perimeter, the rest of the balanced attack Villanova can throw out there, and their swarming defense already having given Providence trouble, the Wildcats should rebound from another Creighton landslide defeat.