Devin Askew was covered in sweat when he sat down in a room inside the practice facility at Villanova on Monday, fresh off an on-court workout with development coach JayVaughn Pinkston that followed a weightlifting session.
Askew, Villanova’s sixth man, is on a tear as of late, averaging 15.8 points during a six-game stretch in which the 23-year-old guard has made 17 of 29 three-pointers. Sessions with Pinkston, a former Villanova player, have helped. Pinkston’s role is exactly that, to do the little things to get the most out of every player. But with Askew, Pinkston’s presence also is a reminder of the past and the winding journey Askew has traveled to put himself in the running for Big East Sixth Man of the Year.
There are few connections remaining to the Villanova program of old, and Pinkston, who played for the Wildcats from 2011 to 2015, is one of them. Which gives him the right to playfully rib Askew about 2019, when, as a top recruit in the class of 2020 from California, he chose Kentucky over Villanova (and others).
“He’ll always tell me I should have been here five years ago,” Askew said. “I should’ve always been a Villanova Wildcat.”
He is here now almost by accident. His college journey has traveled more than 8,000 miles from Mater Dei High School in California to Lexington, Ky., to Austin, Texas, to Berkeley, Calif., to Long Beach, Calif., and, finally, to the Main Line. Five schools in six years. Which made him just another sign of the times when Kevin Willard plucked him out of the transfer portal to give his roster a much-needed experienced ballhandler and shooter.
He was, to the outside world, another mercenary college basketball player passing through a random place on a map and collecting a paycheck to bridge his way to wherever professional hoops takes him.
But for Askew, his time at Villanova has been a “full-circle” experience. Like in most people, his past explains the present, and it’s fitting the journey ends here, where his future is being determined during a critical turning-point season for him and Villanova.
‘It’s why we brought him here’
This recent stretch is what Willard imagined when Villanova recruited Askew this time around. It’s a young Villanova roster, especially at guard. Freshman Acaden Lewis and sophomore Bryce Lindsay have had breakout seasons with the Wildcats, but Askew lately has been a steady presence, and his experience has allowed him to compete on both ends during the physical demands of a Big East schedule.
Before the last six games, Askew reached double figures just three times in 15 contests. It took a little bit longer for it all to come together because he suffered a knee injury during the lead-up to the season. His injury history followed him. A sports hernia injury ended his junior season at California after 13 games, and a foot injury ended his following season, the 2023-24 campaign, after just six.
That injury gave him a redshirt season, but also extra perspective to get through his first few months at Villanova, when he missed nearly two months of practice and was not 100% when the season started.
“I’m tough, and I’m not going to quit,” Askew said when asked what he has learned about himself along his college journey.
Were past versions of him not as tough?
“The true test of knowing that is to go through something,” he said. “I’m willing to go through it and deal with anything that comes to me because I love the game, I love the sport of basketball. I don’t want to stop playing.”
Villanova has needed Askew to be a stabilizing force at times, and it also has needed him to take over games offensively, like against St. John’s and Connecticut, two of the more experienced teams in the conference.
“I don’t view it as they need me to take over,” Askew said. “There are so many things going on within a game, taking over a game could be a defensive stop.”
Willard credited a recent run of strong practices after Askew made five three-pointers and scored 20 points in Friday’s win over Providence. The coach has talked recently about how critical it is to have Askew’s experience. He’s a big reason the Wildcats are 16-5 overall and 7-3 in the Big East as they head into Wednesday night’s home game vs. Seton Hall.
“It’s why we brought him here,” Willard said. “This is the type of player he is. When you go into the portal, you really have to evaluate and watch film and see what he has. When he was on his visit, I think the best part about it was I just loved his maturity. He’s a terrific, terrific person.
“He’s getting rewarded for being a hard worker and a terrific person.”
A piece from all the places
There is a part of every stop that make up the player and person Askew is.
He chose Kentucky as a 17-year-old top-40 prospect because who wouldn’t want to play for John Calipari and follow in the footsteps of top guards like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Maxey?
What did he learn from each stop? Askew went through them one by one.
At Kentucky, he learned how to go from being the guy on a high school team to being one really good player on a team of other really good players. It wasn’t an easy learning experience. “It actually taught me patience and to be even-keeled,” he said. “There’s going to be ups and downs, and you can’t get too high or too low. I was just an emotional kid.” He had high expectations for himself and didn’t meet them. He started losing his love of basketball.
Enter Texas, which may be the most important stop of the five. “That brought back all that love for me,” Askew said. “No, you still love this game. Chris Beard and that coaching staff saved my career.” Askew averaged 14.9 minutes off the bench and was a role player on a team that reached the NCAA Tournament. He fell back in love with basketball, but he wanted a place where he could start, so he went back home to California.
At Cal, it was time to “go show it,” Askew said. “I was ready. And the seasons just got cut short to injuries both years, and that’s where we kept learning and kept growing. … This is the life we chose.”
Cal allowed him to be closer to his family. He has leaned heavily on his two brothers and his parents over the years. Cal also gave him his undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies. But entering the 2024-25 season, he was an oft-injured journeyman with two seasons of eligibility left — one redshirt year, one COVID year — looking to prove he could still play. To the portal, and to Long Beach State, he went.
“Go do it,” Askew said of Long Beach. “It wasn’t go show everyone, because I wasn’t into showing everyone. But it was prove to yourself again.” He scored 18.9 points per game and shot 37.6% from three-point range on a team that won seven games and ended the season by losing its last 15.
“Not a lot of people believed in me and believed I could play still,” Askew said. “They gave me the platform to show what I could still do.”
He found a believer in Willard, who needed another guard in late April to fill out his roster. Villanova, Askew said, is the place to put all of those experiences together.
There are a lot of reasons to gripe about the state of college basketball, and a player going to five schools in six years is one of them. Askew is, in a sense, a one-year rental who helped Willard get Villanova back on track in his first season.
Off the court, Askew is taking classes toward a master’s certificate in Villanova’s public administration program, a year after earning a certificate in communications at Long Beach. On the court, Askew is helping Villanova get back to the NCAA Tournament.
When the topic of the tournament came up, Askew shook his arms and said he got chills.
“That would mean everything to me,” he said. “I kind of get emotional thinking about it. As a kid you always want to play in the tournament. You go to college and want to play college basketball to make the tournament.”
A continuation of his current form will go a long way toward making that possible, and helping him raise his own profile. The NBA probably isn’t in his future, but there is a country or league out there for a lot of players like him.
“I don’t know what this year will do for me,” Askew said. “And I don’t like to hope, because what will happen will happen. I’m just thankful wherever this game takes me, thankful and grateful.”
Sometimes it takes you to the place where maybe you were always supposed to be.
