Utah State Aggies vs Villanova Wildcats Prediction, Odds and Picks for Friday, 03/20/26

Friday’s West regional action from San Diego includes the Utah State Aggies vs the Villanova Wildcats in an 8-vs-9 matchup. This matchup is intriguing because the teams are similar, and both have quietly put together outstanding seasons that most have not noticed. Villanova pretty well handled everyone not named UConn and St. John’s. Utah St smoothly ran through the Mountain West with just a couple of hiccups here or there. Honestly, I think Utah State is under-seeded, and I think they are just better, so I am taking the Aggies to cover -1.5.

Utah State is hyper efficient. They don’t turn the ball over, they don’t shoot a lot of threes, and they aren’t particularly flashy. What they do, however, is get into the paint and score. A lot. They have the 11th-best 2-pt% in the nation, which also leads the way to the 14th-best effective FG%. They are just smooth and efficient. Nova isn’t bad, but they don’t do a lot of outstanding things. They will likely need to get hot from outside to beat the Aggies, and I don’t like that they are playing on the other side of the country. A lot lines up will for the Aggies here.

Utah State vs Villanova prediction: Utah State -1.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.