The Villanova Wildcats will face the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 1^st round of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament on Wednesday in Nassau, Bahamas at the Imperial Arena at Atlantis Resort with tip-off scheduled for 2:30 PM ET on Wednesday afternoon and the game will air on ESPN.

Villanova finished last season with a record of 17-17 which included a record of 10-10 in the Big East which led to a tie with the Seton Hall Pirates for 6^th place in the conference. The Wildcats won in the 1^st round of the Big East Tournament against the Georgetown Hoyas by a score of 80-48, however, they lost in the Quarterfinals against the Creighton Jays by a score of 74-87 causing the Villanova Wildcats to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 college basketball season, however, they were invited to play in the NIT but were eliminated in the 1^st round by the Liberty Flames by a score of 57-62. This year, the Wildcats are projected to be the 4^th best team in the Big East as they are +550 to win the regular season and enter this game with a record of 3-1 following wins at home against the American Eagles by a score of 90-63, the Le Moyne Dolphins by a score of 83-57, and the Maryland Terrapins by a score of 57-40 while losing on the road against the Penn Quakers by a score of 72-76 and will look to advance to the 2^nd round of the tournament when they face the Red Raiders on Wednesday afternoon.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders finished last season with a record of 16-16 and tied with the Oklahoma Sooners for the worst record in the Big 12 with a record of 5-13 as they failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2016-17 college basketball season. This season the Red Raiders have started the year with a record of 3-0 following wins at home against the Texas A&M Commerce Lions by a score of 73-46, the San Jose State Spartans by a score of 56-42, and the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders by a score of 73-64. The defensive play for Texas Tech has played a pivotal role in their early season success as they enter this game allowing an average of 50.67 points per game which is the 3^rd fewest points allowed this season in college basketball.

BookMaker has the Villanova Wildcats listed as 2.5-point favorites against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 1^st round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. These teams have only played each other one other time which occurred in the 2018 NCAA Tournament and resulted in a 71-59 win for the Villanova Wildcats and a 6-point cover as a favorite. The Villanova Wildcats are 2-2 ATS overall and 2-2 ATS as a favorite this season while the Texas Tech Red Raiders are 1-2 ATS overall.

Texas Tech enters this game with a better record, however, Villanova has been the better team this season at covering the spread as the Wildcats are 2-2 ATS overall while the Red Raiders are 1-2 ATS overall. Neither team has played a high-quality opponent this season, however, the Wildcats have already lost one game which came on the road against the Penn Quakers. I look for the Red Raiders to pull off the upset in the 1^st round of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament which is why I am taking the money line for Texas Tech at +110 when they play Villanova on Wednesday afternoon.