City of Basketball Love

Finn Courtney (@finncourtney_)
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VILLANOVA - Duke Brennan has jumped around a lot, both in high school and college. But if two games are any indication, it’s safe to say Villanova has felt like home for the well-travelled Arizona native, helping to orchestrate a resurrection effort on the Main Line from first-year head coach Kevin Willard.

“Duke plays so hard,” Willard said. “If you’ve never played against him, he’s going to outwork you and that’s what I love about him.”

Coming off a loss to BYU Monday, Saturday night saw not just Villanova’s first win of the 2025-26 campaign but continued excellence from the 6-foot-10 forward, who will be an anchor all year down low. In an offensive frenzy Saturday, Brennan aided a 94-74 win over Queens (N.C.) - the first of Willard’s coaching career at Villanova and the 336th of his career, tying his father Ralph Willard.

Brennan set a new career high with 20 rebounds, the first time a player cracked 20 rebounds since Daniel Ochefu’s 24 in 2015, helped outrebound the Royals by 22 (including a 22-3 margin on offensive rebounds) and finished with 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half. 

Through two games, Brennan leads Division I with an average of 17.5 rebounds per game and while that is about as small a sample size as it gets, it’s a good sign for the big man and Villanova moving forward. But for him, it’s onto the next after today ends.

“Going out there tonight, I know I have 20, my career high, and I’m really proud of that,” Brennan said. “But [I’m] going out with that mindset every single day, especially in practice, but in games, mostly just going out and getting boards and helping out my team anyway I can.”

After taking the Villanova coaching job after this year’s NCAA Tournament, outside of junior Tyler Perkins and redshirt freshman Matt Hodge, Kevin Willard knew he’d have to almost fully reconstruct a Villanova roster that had missed March Madness three years running. And now entrenched in the starting lineup, Brennan will be getting the lead role in the frontcourt and serving as a leader for a young Wildcats roster.

“It’s just setting the tone for my team,” Brennan said, “me being a senior out there and a seasoned vet, it’s [on me] to set the tone [physically].”

Growing up in Chandler, Arizona, Brennan attended Perry High School for three years before transferring to Hillcrest Prep, which has produced NBA big men like former top draft pick DeAndre Ayton and committed to Arizona State as a three-star recruit.

In one season at Arizona State, he set the program’s all-time record for rebounds by a freshman. The big man would then enter the transfer portal and find a home at Grand Canyon, where he started 65 games, was named Second Team All-WAC last season and helped the Lopes make the NCAA tournament.

That tournament, perhaps by fate, ended in a first round loss to Maryland, coached by then-coach Willard who would recruit Brennan to Villanova just months later. And so far as a Wildcat, Willard has gotten the best from him with a new approach.

“I played against him when he was at Grand Canyon, so I got to watch a lot of film on Duke and he’s had my utmost respect from day one,” Willard said. “How hard he plays, his motor and now, we’re just trying to put him in some different situations. Keeping him down, a little bit lower, at Grand Canyon, he’d come up a lot and wait for the basketball, but we’re trying to keep him lower at times because I think he can be dominant down there with rebounding.”

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New core still gelling

Despite the 20-point margin of victory tonight, Willard acknowledged the nature of this roster that has still just played 80 minutes of regular season action together. When asked about what’s impressed him about the team so far, he didn’t mince words.

“Really nothing, so far,” Willard said. “Just how hard we play. But we’re not good on defense and we’re not good on offense right now. [...] When you have some good guards out there, and again, I thought Duke made some good passes, it’s an unselfish team which I love. They got a great attitude. They’re unselfish. But man, we’re a work in progress.”

Despite the mixed bag overall, redshirt sophomore Bryce Lindsay is off to quite a scoring start in blue and white, off the bench Monday and tonight getting his first start. After being a four-star recruit in high school, the 6-3 guard committed to Texas A&M but played sparingly. Lindsay would end up redshirting and entering the transfer portal, committing to James Madison in 2024. After playing his first 19 games off the bench for the Dukes, Lindsay vaulted into the starting lineup and continued to impress, on route to an outstanding campaign of 13.4 ppg and broke the JMU freshman record for most three-pointers with 80. 

Lindsay took home both the Sun Belt Freshman and Sixth Man of the Year Awards before once again going portaling with three years of eligibility. And thus far, he’s impressed on the Main Line, putting up back-to-back games of 22 and tonight, 23 points to lead all players in scoring.

Five-star freshman Acaden Lewis as well bounced back from a subpar debut Monday to great results, which many expected coming into this season. Lewis posted his first collegiate 20+ point performance, with 21 on 9-13 shooting from the field (1-3 3P, 2-4 FT), four rebounds and three assists.

“I’m just grateful for the opportunity, my high school coach always used to say football is not like basketball, you get to play three, four days later and I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be here,” Lewis said. “Coach Willard stuck with me, he knows I’m a freshman and I had a rough first game. But, I stayed in it, stayed [at] work, watched film and just was happy to get out here and play with my guys today.”

After Villanova shot 19 three-pointers in the first half alone Monday, the Wildcats took just 19 total tonight - a change Willard attributed to Lewis’s play and leadership on the floor, a difference from Monday where Lewis played sparingly in the second half.

“We took way too many threes in the first game,” Willard said. “I really think Acaden did a great job of keeping the tempo and not settling and attacking and I think you’re gonna see him continue to get more and more comfortable, get better, recognize switches. It’s only his 2nd game, so I think the more he learns, the more he watches film, the better he’s going to get.”

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Updates on the injury front

Despite having graduate guard Devin Askew back ahead of schedule, Villanova still came into their home opener banged up. The Wildcats’ injury report added a third player ahead of tipoff, as freshman Chris Jeffrey suffered a right ankle sprain in Friday’s practice. 

Postgame, Willard said he had no idea how much time the promising guard would miss as of yet. Jeffrey’s injury, coming off an 11-point (4-8 FG, 1-2 3P) performance Monday, poses another blow to a bench that disappointed against Queens, only shooting two-of-nine from the floor between Askew, Tafara Gapare and Malachi Palmer and committing three turnovers.

Meanwhile for Villanova, forward Zion Stanford missed his second consecutive game to start his Wildcat career, still nursing a left ankle strain. Willard had previously said Stanford may miss until December with the injury.

Grand Canyon transfer Malcolm Flaggs also missed his second consecutive game, after suffering a right Achilles strain before exhibition games began, with no timetable available on his return.