The Wildcats (4-1) find their first road (and Big 5) win at John E. Glaser Arena, leading wire-to-wire against the Explorers. Villanova had four players in double-figures, led by Matt Hodge with 17 points
on 7/9 shooting (3/5 from deep). Tyler Perkins, Acaden Lewis and Bryce Lindsay chipped in 13, 12 and 10 points respectively. Duke Brennan continued his impressive work on the glass, finishing with 13 rebounds (and 8 points).
Coming into the night, the Wildcats were expected to win the rebounding and turnover battle, but not have as successful of a day from 3-point range. All three held true, as Villanova outrebounded La Salle 33-28, turned it over three less times (16-13) and was only able to connect on 8/25 from the arc (32%). The ’Cats were able to take advantage of the 12.8 turnovers per game (230th in the nation) that the Explorers averaged coming into the night.
Although it was on a small sample size (and all four misses came from Brennan), Villanova continues to struggle at the free-throw line relative to seasons past. The Wildcats sit at 68.5% from the line as a team thus far, which is good for 243rd in the country at the time of writing. This number needs to go way up when the competition follows suit.
Zion Stanford scored his first bucket as a member of the team, and Tafara Gapare returned from his two-game absence (foot injury) to contribute 5 points and 3 rebounds on the night. Their defensive versatility will be a welcomed addition going forward.
Since the season opener against BYU, Villanova has continued to contain the other team’s leading scorer. This time it was Jaeden Marshall, who coming into the night was averaging 15.3 points per game. The Wildcats held Marshall to only 10 points on 3/8 shooting. The Explorers’ second-leading scorer, Jerome Brewer Jr., only scored 2 points on 1/4 shooting. Eric Acker was the only other player to score double figures, leading La Salle with 17 points on 8/13 shooting.
Villanova’s next game is on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at home against Old Dominion. Let’s hope things go differently this time around.
Post-game presser:
