Category: Villanova

Rumors of Villanova’s interest in 7-foot-3 Italian center Luigi Suigo already were swirling when assistant coach Ricky Harris posted a photo last month on his Instagram page from Milan, not far from Suigo’s hometown of Tradate. Villanova was trying to keep its pursuit of Suigo under the radar, but Harris’s post only fueled the speculation.

Villanova is visiting Suigo in Milan! The staff is all-in on adding the future NBA center! Kevin Willard really wants the cherry on top for this roster rebuild!

Let’s play a little game of Two Truths and a Lie.

No, Villanova didn’t send Harris to Milan to visit its next center. The other things are true, though. And the lie is only a partial one. It wasn’t Harris visiting Suigo, it was Willard. Harris was just in Italy enjoying an offseason vacation, with the bulk of the roster overhaul already done. But it wasn’t Milan where Willard went, it was Belgrade, Serbia, where Suigo played this past season with Mega Basket of the Adriatic League.

“Belgrade was beautiful,” Willard said Monday, nine days after Suigo announced he was leaving the NBA draft and signing with Villanova. “Food was great, people were awesome.”

It was a short business trip, less than 48 hours. Willard had spent the past month reassembling the Wildcats’ roster. Only two players who dressed in a game from last season’s team, Tyler Perkins and Matt Hodge, returned. The staff surrounded them with plenty of talent, but still needed a true center to round out the roster. Any starting-caliber center would have been fine. The offseason had largely been a success even after losing a few top players like Acaden Lewis and Bryce Lindsay to the transfer portal.

“We could have gone in a couple directions,” Willard said of the center spot. “For us, it was like, all right, how are we trying to win a championship here?”

On film, Suigo looked the part of a player who could take the roster to the next level. The size component is obvious. But Suigo is a “really skilled center that can shoot it, that can pass at a high level,” Willard said. “I think one of his best attributes is that he’s extremely unselfish. He’s a great passer.”

Willard wanted more than film studying, though, so he got on a plane and flew halfway across the world to watch Suigo practice in person, to meet with his coaches, to sit down with him for dinner.

“Sometimes you can watch clips and you can get fooled,” Willard said. “When I went over there and talked to him in person, met him in person, and saw him play, it was like, yeah, this kid is the real deal.

“He’s very professional. He knows what he wants. He knows how he wants to play. He knows where he needs to get better at.”

In 26 games with Mega Basket, Suigo, 19, posted averages of 7.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1 block in 18.8 minutes. He shot 64.9% on his 111 two-point shots, 27.1% on 48 three-point attempts, and 64.7% on 34 free throws.

Draft evaluators had Suigo projected near the end of the first round or early in the second round. Luring a player out of that range surely was costly for Villanova. Willard declined to discuss financials with The Inquirer. But the region’s rich Italian-American culture and the timing of watching the Knicks on their championship run with Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart were added bonuses.

Plus, Suigo was open about wanting to be a top-20 pick throughout the draft process.

“I think he maybe would have gotten drafted late in the first round, but he doesn’t want that,” Willard said. “He wants to make sure when he gets drafted he’s going to play. The big thing is I think he needs to get Americanized a little bit, to American basketball. I think that’s why college will be really good for him. Get in shape a little bit, just kind of get used to American basketball. I think once he does, the sky is the limit for him.”

Sky’s the limit for the team, too?

The offseason had a clear objective.

“We wanted to make sure that we just didn’t get manhandled the way we got manhandled last year against the top teams,” Willard said.

He was talking about national champion Michigan and the two top Big East teams, Connecticut and St. John’s. Willard’s first season at Villanova was a success. A streak of three consecutive missed NCAA Tournaments was stopped, though Villanova lost as a No. 8 seed in the first round because it lacked experience and physicality against a veteran Utah State team.

The first additions of the offseason aimed to address that. Villanova signed Oregon’s Kwame Evans Jr. and Ohio State’s Devin Royal. Both players are incoming seniors who averaged more than 13 points in the Big Ten last season. Evans is 6-10 and Royal is 6-6 but is a physical player who averaged seven rebounds in 2024-25 and nearly six last season.

With those two and Perkins and Hodge in the fold, the attention turned to the backcourt, specifically to the point guard spot. Willard said he watched more film to fill this spot than any other position during the offseason. Perhaps, then, he could ace a quiz on Illinois-Chicago hoops. Elijah Crawford scored 14 points and dished out five assists in 26 minutes per game last season. More importantly, his decision-making out of pick-and-roll stood out, as did his 75.3% rate from the free-throw line.

Crawford is the likely starting point guard next to Perkins, with Royal, Evans, and Suigo rounding out the starting five.

Backcourt depth was a problem at times last season. On paper, it won’t be in 2026-27. The Wildcats added Cornell shooting guard Jake Fiegen, who Willard said “analytically, was probably one of the highest-rated guys.” Fiegen shot 41.4% from three-point range on 5.5 attempts per game. He thrived in catch-and-shoot situations, of which he will have plenty with this Villanova roster.

Then there’s St. Bonaventure transfer Buddy Simmons. Willard said the staff was actually watching another Atlantic 10 player when they became enamored with Simmons, a 5-11 guard who scored 16.4 points per game and shot 42.5% from deep. While Fiegen is more of a standstill shooter, Simmons produces off the dribble.

Incoming freshman guard Adam Oumiddoch also is expected to contribute right away. He’ll add to a versatile bench that also includes Hodge, who Willard said is tracking toward being ready for the beginning of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL in March.

Evans could play some minutes at center, as could returning redshirt freshman Nico Onyekwere.

“We can play small or we can play really big,” Willard said. “That was my goal. Last year we were kind of hampered in how we could play. This year I think we have so much more flexibility.”

Signing a 7-3 center helps.

But Suigo’s signing should have done more than raise the expectations for the 2026-27 season. Sure, the Wildcats may get some preseason top 25 love. But they also showed they can compete financially with other programs.

“From Father Peter to the board to our alumni and our donors, everyone understands how important Villanova basketball is,” Willard said. “We will never be the highest spender. That’s not in our DNA and it’s not what it is. But I will say that the university understands and financially has been extremely supportive of this program and the women’s program.”

About those expectations …

“I’m the head coach at Villanova,” Willard said. “The expectations are huge every year. I knew that when I took this job. I knew that when I took the Maryland job. It’s just part of the job. It’s what makes this job so great. You want those expectations.”

It’s what you fly to Serbia for.

Villanova entered Wednesday with a 9-3 road record, but the last true road game of the season for the Wildcats came with a new wrinkle, and a new starting lineup after Matt Hodge suffered a season-ending ACL injury Saturday night vs. St. John’s.

Villanova coach Kevin Willard said Tuesday that the injury hurt the Wildcats, but “it’s not catastrophic.” They had the right answers to make up for missing their sixth-leading scorer, Willard thought, and while a sloppy first half didn’t make him look like much of a prophet, a much better second half helped Villanova turn a tight game into a rout and an eventual 76-57 win over DePaul.

The Wildcats improved to 23-7 on the season and 14-5 in the Big East behind big nights from Tyler Perkins (20 points, six rebounds), Duke Brennan (15 points, 12 rebounds), and Devin Askew (14 points, five rebounds). It was their eighth conference road win, their most since 2016.

Here are a few observations from the victory:

Dominant defense

DePaul is the second-worst scoring offense in the Big East and ranks seventh of the 11 teams in three-point shooting (33.1%).

It’s on the defensive end where Hodge’s absence in the starting five won’t be felt in a major way. That’s not to say Hodge, a redshirt-freshman, hasn’t held his own, but inserting Malachi Palmer in the lineup gives Villanova more versatility. Palmer is two inches smaller than Hodge at 6-foot-6 and allows the Wildcats to effectively switch more, which was especially effective against DePaul’s pick-and-roll offense.

Villanova was aggressive on the ball defensively and created 16 DePaul turnovers, leading to 22 points off those turnovers. Villanova got its own good looks in the first half but shot just 27.6%. The Wildcats survived a slow start because they forced seven turnovers and limited DePaul to just 24 points. It was the third time this season Villanova allowed fewer than 25 points in an opening half.

In the second half, Willard deployed more matchup zone and dared DePaul to try to shoot its way to a win. The Blue Demons were just 2-for-16 from three-point range, and many of those were either well-contested or forced into the hands of low-percentage shooters.

Three Wildcats had at least two steals. Perkins had four, while Bryce Lindsay and Acaden Lewis had two apiece.

New-look rotation

Palmer, as expected, got the start and tied his season-high with 29 minutes, a mark he reached for the first time Saturday night in part because of Hodge’s injury early in the second half.

Palmer, a sophomore, looked a little jittery to start but settled in during the second half. He finished with 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting (1-for-4 from deep) and added five rebounds.

Askew was the first player off the bench as usual. Then freshman guard Chris Jeffrey and backup center Braden Pierce, a redshirt-freshman. Hodge’s absence will force Villanova into some awkward rotations when Palmer needs to rest. Willard had brief stretches with one big man and four guards on the floor, a unit that he won’t be afraid to roll with depending on matchups because of Perkins’ physicality and rebounding ability.

What Villanova didn’t show Wednesday was a two-big look with Brennan and Pierce both on the floor. Willard said he’ll be willing to go to it, and the Wildcats have practiced it some, but DePaul did not have a ton of size to force Villanova to counter.

Brennan played 35 minutes for the fourth time in a game that ended in regulation. Palmer played 19 of the 20 minutes in the second half while Pierce (two minutes) and Jeffrey (one minute) played sparingly. They finished with five and three minutes, respectively. An eight-man rotation was effectively a six-player rotation. It worked fine Wednesday night, and may work fine again Saturday in the regular season finale vs. Xavier, but tougher tests await in the postseason.

No Stanford

Hodge being out meant Zion Stanford, a West Catholic graduate and Temple transfer, potentially was in line for more of a role. The junior had seemingly fallen out of the rotation and hadn’t played since Feb. 4.

But Stanford was not with the team in Chicago. He practiced Wednesday, according to sources, but didn’t travel with the team and the nature of his absence was unclear.

Bouncing back

Willard told the broadcast after the game that he “got after” his team a little bit in two days of practice following what was the worst Villanova loss in 29 years.

Willard attributed the missed shots and carelessness offensively to still dealing with the emotional letdown of having Hodge out. But things settled down after halftime. The Wildcats changed up their defense and were much more efficient on the offensive end.

It’s no surprise that it was Askew, Brennan, and Perkins — a graduate student, a senior, and a junior — who helped lead the way in the second half.

One more, then the tournaments

The regular season ends Saturday with a noon home game vs. Xavier. A win would give Villanova 15 conference wins for the first time since 2021-22, Jay Wright’s final season. That possibility may be a little less daunting considering Xavier’s Tre Carroll, the Big East’s leading scorer (18 points per game), went down with an injury Tuesday night. His status for Saturday is not yet known.

The Wildcats are on their way to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022, but first is the conference tournament next week in New York, where Villanova will be the No. 3 seed. They open up in the final game of the quarterfinals next Thursday (9:30 p.m.) vs. the winner of the No. 6 vs. No. 11 matchup.

NEW YORK — Kevin Willard spent his formative years in coaching working under Rick Pitino, first with the Boston Celtics and then later in the college ranks at the University of Louisville.

So the Villanova coach didn’t have to imagine what practice was like for Pitino’s No. 15 St. John’s team this week after it was blown out and embarrassed by No. 6 UConn Wednesday night.

He lived it.

“I don’t have hair because of him,” Willard said after Villanova was throttled in an 89-57 loss — the worst defeat for the program in 29 years — that was all but over before halftime. “I had a full set of hair when I started working for him. It’s the most miserable experience in life. You fear for your life every day. Everyone laughs when I say that, but no, you think you’re going to get fired, and it’s miserable.”

The game was already going to be hard to begin with. Villanova (22-7, 13-5) is on its way to the NCAA Tournament, but it has failed to show it can compete with the two teams at the top of a Big East conference that will send just three teams to the dance, barring a miracle run at Madison Square Garden in two weeks. Add to the equation that St. John’s was coming off a 32-point drubbing, the Garden was sold out, and those rough and rowdy Red Storm practices this week, and you get a recipe for disaster.

Pitino told reporters ahead of Saturday that the game against UConn was the biggest since he arrived on campus in 2023. It is the hyperbole you resort to after you lose a game by 32. St. John’s held a White Out and gave out white t-shirts for lower-level ticket holders, and Pitino emerged from the tunnel onto the floor before the game wearing a white suit. The crowd loved it, and Pitino’s players made sure they continued having things to cheer about.

It was 11-2 after three quick Villanova turnovers. Later, two more consecutive turnovers led to easy dunks and a 28-14 deficit. Willard used multiple timeouts during the first half, but Villanova had no answers for the defensive pressure and intensity from St. John’s. It was 48-23 by the time the first-half buzzer mercifully sounded, and the first-half stats told the story.

St. John’s held an 18-0 advantage in points off turnovers. Villanova had more turnovers (eight) than it did made baskets (seven). The Wildcats shot 25.9%. Tyler Perkins, Villanova’s leading scorer, was minus-32 in 17 first-half minutes.

“I think the biggest difference is that they’re a veteran team,” Willard said. “You knew Zuby [Ejiofor] wasn’t going to come out and lay an egg, and he didn’t.”

The St. John’s center became the fourth known Red Storm player to record a triple-double. He had 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. The superlatives didn’t stop with him. The 32-point victory was the largest St. John’s has ever recorded vs. Villanova in what was the 135th matchup between the two teams.

Further, it was the worst Villanova loss since the Wildcats lost by 37 in a February 1997 game vs. Kentucky.

Who coached that Kentucky team? Pitino.

Back to the present day, Willard’s Wildcats on consecutive Saturdays received a dose of reality vs. the conference’s elite, but they also survived a rough stretch during Wednesday’s win over Butler.

“We still won seven out of nine games,” Willard said when asked if he was concerned about the timing of it all. “We lost to UConn and St. John’s. Unfortunately, I caught UConn after they played their worst game of the year and it seems like God is punishing me for my sins.

“We’re going to move on. We have two more games left. Life happens, man. You get your [butt] kicked every once in a while.”

Willard had a similar thing to say last week after a 10-point loss to UConn that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. Villanova bused home late Saturday night and is back on the road for a Wednesday night game at DePaul. The regular season finishes Saturday with a home game vs. Xavier before the Big East tournament begins.

How will Villanova respond to its worst loss of the season?

Perhaps Willard can channel Pitino at Monday’s practice.

No update on Matt Hodge’s injury

Villanova redshirt-freshman forward Matt Hodge went down with what appeared to be a right leg injury early in the second half. Hodge was on the floor in pain for a few moments and then struggled to put any weight on his right foot as he was helped off the floor and into the locker room.

Willard did not have an update on Hodge’s status after the game.

Wildcats locked into Big East seed

The loss Saturday means Villanova can’t possibly climb higher than third in the Big East conference. For reference, the Wildcats were picked seventh in the preseason poll. But there appears to be a steep drop off from UConn and St. John’s at the top.

The No. 3 seed means the Wildcats will open the Big East tournament with a 9:30 p.m. quarterfinal game vs. the winner of the game between No. 6 and No. 11.