Devin Askew’s team-high 20 points off the bench lifts Villanova past Providence

Villanova leaned on sixth man Devin Askew’s team-high 20 points to defeat Providence, 87-73, on Friday night at Finneran Pavilion.

Villanova (16-5, 7-3 Big East) shot 47% from three-point range in the first half to build a 17-point cushion. Askew went 4-for-5 from three and scored 17 first-half points. He now has four games with 20 or more points off the bench this season.

“[We are] trying to get [Devin] to play off his strengths ever since he’s now kind of back to strength,” said Villanova coach Kevin Willard. “He had a great week of practice. I think that was the big thing. I think everybody did. We had three really good days of practice, and that’s the way he played for the last three days.”

Askew, who suffered a major knee sprain over the summer, is averaging 15.8 points in his last six games. He missed about two months of practice as the team prepared to open the season.

“I feel really good out there,” Askew said when asked about his health. “But just like always, I still have some work to do. Still got to get better every day.”

Junior guard Tyler Perkins scored 19 points, marking his fifth consecutive game in double digits. He shot 6-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-6 from three-point range.

“I just [have] been in the gym,” Perkins said. “We have a great strength coach in [Justin McClelland], and he gets us better every day, especially in the summer. We do ‘Strong Man,’ and that’s a big part of just being in shape and getting your body right for the season. So it’s just a testament to the coaching staff that we have around us.”

Villanova shot 51% from the field and made a conference-high 13 three-pointers (45%).

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Villanova scored 20 fast break points to Providence’s two. Askew and Perkins were a main reason why Villanova was successful on fast break opportunities.

“We’re a really good transition team,” Perkins said. “We got a bunch of good shooters like Devin, Bryce [Lindsay], so if we get out and run, we got a good opportunity to score.”

Villanova forced Providence (9-13, 2-9) into 10 first-half turnovers, including seven steals, three by freshman guard Acaden Lewis. Villanova scored 15 first-half points off those forced turnovers.

The Wildcats currently rank 36th in KenPom’s defensive ratings after the win over Providence.

Despite being a strong second-half team, Villanova came out flat. The Wildcats missed their first ten field goal attempts, allowing Providence to cut its deficit to eight points.

“I think the defensive end we kind of gave, [Stefan Vaaks], he’s good,” Willard said. “He’s a pro with his size and the way he shoots it. We left him [open] twice to start the second half, and kind of gave them nine points and let them right back into the game. So I thought we did a much better job of just sitting down, defending.”

Vaaks, a 6-foot-7 freshman guard, finished with a game-high 25 points

In the final 11 minutes of play, however, Villanova went 12-for-13 from the field, which included an 11-1 scoring run.

“They don’t fold,” said Providence coach Kim English. “They stick to that process. We guarded them [well] to start the second half. They didn’t score for a long time to start, think it was like 20% or something. But they stuck with their process. They’re a really good shot quality team, and that’s what it takes. Paint decisions was the game.”

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Villanova will host Seton Hall (15-6, 5-5) on Wednesday (6:30 p.m., Peacock). In its last meeting, Villanova beat Seton Hall, 64-56, to pick up a Quad 1 win in the NCAA NET Rankings. This time, it would be a possible Quad 2 victory. This season, Villanova is 3-4 in Quad 1 wins and 2-1 in Quad 2.