Villanova (14-3) just keeps winning on the road, moving to 5-1 in true away games this year (with the only loss coming at Michigan). The win similarly makes the Wildcats 5-1 in conference play thus far.
It was the best bench performance of the season for Villanova, getting 32 combined points from Devin Askew, Malachi Palmer and Braden Pierce. The Wildcats’ reserves outscored the Friars’ 32-8 on the evening. Askew scored 20 of those 32, in what was his most impactful game of the season. This is coming off of his previously-substantial performance in Milwaukee against Marquette. Palmer poured in a season-high 10 points on 4/6 shooting in 24 minutes played. If he can be a consistent seventh-man going forward, that would be a monumental development for Villanova’s prospects.
Tyler Perkins, Duke Brennan and Matt Hodge led the starters with 15, 14 and 11 points respectively. All three were big in this one, with Perkins tied for the team lead with 8 rebounds. Brennan made two crucial free throws with 1:22 remaining to increase the lead to 8. Brennan has quietly made 6 of his last 8 free throws, increasing his season percentage to 55.6%. Hopefully this trajectory continues and he nears his career percentages in short order.
Acaden Lewis, who is coming off of two straight 20-point games, only had 7 points on 3/9 shooting. But as he usually does, he ran the team efficiently with 8 assists and had 2 steals. Bryce Lindsay continues to struggle, going 2/10 and 2/8 from three. He is 7/30 in his last three games (3/18 from deep).
Providence played without leading scorer Jason Edwards, who missed the game with a foot injury. Second-leading scorer Jaylin Sellers stepped up with 24 points on 9/18 shooting. The Friars did get back freshman Jamier Jones, who was huge in this one. Jones scored a season-high 23 points on 8/12 shooting, which oddly enough lowered his season’s shooting percentage to 68.3%. Fellow freshman Stefan Vaaks tied his season high with 21 points, a total that he scored in the previous game against Xavier.
Villanova was able to survive Providence shooting 55.4% as a team, in large part due to winning the turnover battle (13-8), grabbing more rebounds (30-25) and making two more free throws. The Wildcats shooting 14/18 as a team is the best performance that they’ve had in some time. Over the last two games, Villanova is 21/25 from the stripe (84%).
This sets up an important home matchup on Saturday, with the also 5-1 Red Storm coming to town. St. John’s has won three straight in convincing fashion since the surprising home loss to Providence nearly two weeks ago.
