Villanova-Michigan rematch highlights Gavitt Games, a perfect return for college basketball

College basketball is back in a big way. In just over a week of action, we’ve already seen two top ten matchups, Buffalo upset No. 13 West Virginia on the road in overtime, and LSU’s Skylar Mays end a man’s life:

Early season tournaments are about to get into the full swing of things as we near Thanksgiving, but if you’re still in college football mode, you may have missed out on the start of the Gavitt Games. The Gavitt Tipoff Games pit squads from the Big Ten and BIG EAST against each other in a series of eight games spanning four days. That action continues tonight on FS1 at 6:30pm with a top-20 matchup as No. 8 Villanova hosts No. 19 Michigan in a rematch of last year’s national championship game.

Here’s four reasons you should tune into the Gavitt Games tonight:

Game: Michigan vs. Villanova

Location: Finneran Pavilion, County, Pennsylvania

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

TV: FS1

This cannot be undersold. Last year’s title game was, uh, not the most exciting game as Villanova cruised to a convincing win, but that was last season. Both squads are nationally ranked, have high season expectations, and are off to good starts on the season. Not to mention, Michigan probably is itching for some revenge (although the stakes are significantly lower).

Michigan has the sixth rated defense per KenPom, and Villanova’s offense is third in the country. Nova’s picked up easy wins over Morgan State and Quinnipiac so far this season, and Michigan enters tonight’s game with a matching 2-0 record after taking out Norfolk State and Holy Cross. This is the first true test for either squad, and both coaches will take away lessons regardless of the outcome.

These are two totally different teams from last year (more on that next), but the added rematch layer is a fun twist.

Michigan’s Moe Wagner and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Villanova’s Jalen Brunson, Amari Spellman, Donte DiVincenzo, and Mikal Bridges have all moved on. Replacing a National Player of the Year and four first-round NBA draft picks between the two teams is a tall task for John Beilein and Jay Wright.

Phil Booth and Eric Paschall return for the Wildcats and are averaging 20 and 18.5 points per game, respectively. Freshman Saddiq Bey has been a consistent with 12 points per game and shooting 67% from the field and three. Villanova’s Jahvon Quinerly is still growing and figuring it all out, but has undeniable talent.

For Michigan, freshman Ignas Brazdeikis leads all scorers with 15.5 points per game, followed closely by senior guard Charles Matthews’s 15 points per game. Jon Teske has started the season 7-for-15 from three (47%) and Jordan Poole is the type of player that can take over a game.

Tuesday night, Wisconsin went on the road and took down Xavier, 77-68, thanks to Ethan Happ’s 30 point, 13 rebound performance. Sophomore D’Mitrik Trice added 22 points, and Brad Davison chipped in 19 points and a chomp. In case you aren’t familiar with the smack talk in this series, Xavier’s JP Macura (who has since graduated) mocked Wisconsin’s season-ending loss to Florida in the 2017 NCAA Tournament with the hand motion in last year’s matchup. Davison, who apparently has the memory and grudge-holding abilities of an elephant, broke out the same move after hitting a game-clinching three with just over a minute left in the game.

In the second game of the night, Georgetown came away with an 88-80 win over Illinois. The game featured eight ties and nine lead changes, and was within a point with 1:08 left to play. Freshmen were all the rage in this matchup as Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu had 25 points and Georgetown’s James Akinjo (19 points), Josh LeBlanc (14 points), and Mac McClung (12 points) all had impressive performances. Oh, and McClung did this:

To cap it all off, Patrick Ewing said nuts during the post-game interview, then giggled like a teenager. All-in-all, a perfect night of basketball.

Villanova-Michigan not your thing? That’s cool, there’s more games on tonight:

Much like Villanova and Michigan, all of the teams hitting the court tonight as part of the Gavitt Games are undefeated. Nebraska is just seven spots ahead of Seton Hall in the KenPom standings, and both teams are in the top-40. Marquette, which jumped into the AP Poll this week, is evenly matched with Indiana, which is just outside the top-25 looking in.

Thursday you can catch Ohio State-Creighton and Penn State-DePaul, and the event closes with St. Johns-Rutgers on Friday.