City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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After seven quiet months, the area’s college basketball season is coming back to life. 

The Villanova men hosted Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) on Sunday in the first exhibition game of the 2025-26 season featuring a local college program, with the shorthanded Wildcats coming away victorious, 70-51.

Here’s a notebook full of observations, notes, quotes and stats from the afternoon:

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Lewis stands out for ‘Nova

The first Villanova squad of Kevin Willard’s tenure on the Main Line might not have a true superstar. But it might have one in the making in freshman guard Acaden Lewis. 

The 6-foot-2 left-hander, a graduate of D.C. powerhouse Sidwell Friends, got the start and looked the part in Villanova’s exhibition win, leading the way with 15 points to pace all scorers. Lewis was continually weaving his way throughout the VCU defense, making a couple acrobatic finishes around the rim, as he played just shy of 30 minutes of action.

“That Lewis kid, he’s the real deal,” VCU coach Phil Martelli Jr. said. “He’s going to be a problem for a lot of people [...] he can go.”

Lewis paced four Wildcats in double figures. 

Junior wing Tyler Perkins, in his second year at Villanova, scored 14 points on 4-8 FG; sophomore guard Bryce Lindsay, a James Madison transfer, scored 12 points and graduate student forward Duke Brennan, a Grand Canyon transfer, added 10 and seven rebounds. All four were starters, along with redshirt freshman Matthew Hodge, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds of his own.

Afterwards, Lewis gave Lindsay and Perkins credit for helping him get settled. 

“I think everybody on this team has been like a big brother to me,” he said. “Perk and Bryce took me to the side before the game, told me it was going to be cool, even if I was nervous, to play through it, and I really appreciate them for that, because that lift-up really helped me out.”

Lewis and Lindsay joined Willard for the post-game press conference, the two new Wildcats showing some real offensive firepower but also some room for growth. The pair combined for seven of Villanova’s 13 turnovers, and went a combined 2-of-9 from the 3-point arc, though Lindsay made up for that somewhat with three of ‘Nova’s 12 steals. 

“I think one of the biggest things with young players is getting the casual-ness out of their game, and understanding that every possession is really important,” Willard said. “I think both these guys are really talented, they both can score the ball in different ways, but getting them to understand in college basketball, you just can’t come down and be casual. It has to have purpose on every possession. 

“So, for their first games, pretty good, but we’ve just got to work on that.”

Lewis, given a chance to talk about his transition to the college game, had every right to be a little braggadocious, given his status as likely the best player on the floor. Instead, he focused on his shortcomings, even before Williard chimed in with his thoughts.

“It hasn’t been seamless, that’s the best answer I can give you,” Lewis said. “I struggle with turnovers and just doing a little too much sometimes. I’m playing with really good players such as BL who’s next to me right here, so just learning to get off the ball, get it back on the second swing or third swing, we have a lot of talented guys on this team. 

“The best thing I’ve done is stay out of the way. At Sidwell I was always on the ball, pressing to get on the ball; here, I do my best to let dudes rock out and get mine when they’re needed in the flow of the game.”

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Wildcats lock down defensively

There’s no doubt which end of the floor won this game for Villanova. 

As a team, the Wildcats shot 25-of-56 (43.8%) from the floor and 4-of-15 (26.7%) from the 3-point arc. But they shut down the Rams, holding their visitors to 16-of-60 (26.7%) overall and 5-of-25 (20.0%) from the arc. The 15 turnovers they forced turned into an 18-8 advantage in points off turnovers; they also held a 36-22 advantage on points in the paint.

It’s no surprise that two teams with new coaching staffs and largely new rosters didn’t exactly look like finished products, but the ‘Nova men didn’t leave many open shooters and rarely gave up an open drive. 

“I think we’re getting there,” Willard said of his team’s defensive effort. “We have a long way to go on both ends but I thought our intensity was really good. Our ball pressure, our deflections were really good. And you know, VCU’s the same way as us, first-game jitters. It’s going to be a little ugly early, it always is.”

Though they both got into foul trouble, Villanova got quality interior play from the 6-11 Brennan and 7-foot redshirt sophomore Braden Pierce, who followed Willard from Maryland to Villanova this past offseason. Pierce blocked tow shots and grabbed four rebounds in 11 minutes and also threw down a big dunk, while Brennan had several good finishes off pocket passes and transition feeds. 

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Nowell starts, struggles for VCU

There were Philly ballplayers all over the gym at the Finneran Pavilion on Sunday evening, scattered throughout the stands and bleachers. That included the Imhotep coaching staff and several Panthers players sitting in one group, there to see alum Ahmad Nowell take the court with the Rams for the first time. 

One of the best players in ‘Tep history, Nowell spent last season at UConn, where he averaged 1.5 ppg in 18 appearances. He’s set to have a much larger role at VCU, his name in the starting lineup on Sunday, and the Rams’ coaching staff has high hopes for the Philly native.

The exhibition game certainly wasn’t Nowell’s best showing, as he finished with three points on 1-5 shooting, with one assist and four turnovers in 17 minutes and change. The physical combo guard uncharacteristically missed a couple layups in the first half, but had a few good plays in the second, including his only points coming on a knockdown catch-and-shoot triple. 

“You could tell he had a little of those jitters early,” Martelli Jr. said. “And then as he got into the flow of the game later in the first half and in the second half, he looked more like himself. I’d rather get that out of the way now than Nov. 19 or Jan. 19 or March 19 for sure. 

“I expect big things for him. He’s shot the ball well for us, did a good job taking care of the ball. Tonight it didn’t happen, but we got that one out of the way and hopefully next time he’s playing at a much higher level.”

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Wildcat injury watch

Four different Villanova players were unavailable for Sunday’s exhibition: senior guard Devin Askew (right knee sprain), senior forward Tafara Gaspare (right foot injury), redshirt sophomore guard Malcolm Flaggs (right Achilles strain) and junior wing Zion Stanford (left ankle sprain). 

Askew’s injury was known earlier in the preseason, and is expected to keep him out into the early part of the season. The other three were more recent; Willard said Stanford has been out for about two weeks, and the team wasn’t able to go full-bore at practice the last two days before the VCU game. 

The outlook for the quartet seems mixed.

“We’re hoping to have Dev maybe back for the homestand here,” Willard said, referring to three straight home games from Nov. 8-15 after opening the season Nov. 3 at BYU. “Zion, he’s still in a boot for another two weeks, so he’s looking more like December. Tafara will be back this week, and Malcolm, he’s out for a while. 

“Just have to kind of piece together practice. Once we get Dev back for practice, hopefully after BYU, I think that’ll help.”

The return of Askew is most important for ‘Nova, considering that the absence of the Long Beach State transfer — who averaged 18.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 4.5 apg last year — leaves Willard with only Lewis and fellow freshman Christian Jeffery as his options on the ball.

“They don’t get any rest in practice, they take all the reps,” Willard said. “I think that’s one reason it’s helped them a little bit, but I’m more worried a little bit long-term, hitting January and February and all of a sudden they’re a little gassed because they haven’t had rest in practice.”

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Up Next
Villanova plays a second public exhibition game on Friday at Virginia, with tipoff scheduled for 7 PM. 

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