How the ‘different personalities’ of Acaden Lewis and Tyler Perkins will guide Villanova

NEW YORK — Tuesday morning was going to be an unfamiliar experience for any player who joined Villanova coach Kevin Willard at Madison Square Garden for the annual Big East media day.

The Wildcats have 11 new players on the roster, all of them new to the Big East, and just one returning player who saw the floor last season, junior guard Tyler Perkins. Which players would Willard opt to put in the spotlight at the conference’s kickoff event and why? Perkins was an obvious choice “because he’s the only player that scored in a Big East game,” Willard said.

The second choice could have been a few people. Villanova has multiple seniors or graduate students. Any of them — Long Beach State transfer Devin Askew, Grand Canyon transfer Duke Brennan, and Maryland transfer Tafara Gapare — would have been a reasonable second option. So would Matthew Hodge, the redshirt freshman who was forced to sit out last season at Villanova.

But Willard chose to pair Perkins with freshman point guard Acaden Lewis, the consensus top-35 prospect Willard landed in May when the Washington native decided to reopen his recruitment after originally committing to Kentucky last fall. It is a sport sometimes dominated by upperclassmen and a conference that leans a little older. Braylon Mullins was named the conference’s preseason freshman of the year, but he wasn’t one of the players Dan Hurley brought with him to represent UConn.

To be fair, Willard’s roster is not laden with the same type of talent as UConn’s, but Lewis, who will be relied on heavily to be the engine that makes Villanova’s offense go, was chosen by Willard for a reason.

“Acaden is a big-time freshman recruit,” he said. “I know this is good for his career.”

» READ MORE: With an experienced Villanova point guard injured, freshman Acaden Lewis might get the keys right away

This basketball season will bring a lot of firsts in Lewis’ life, and this week was the start of it all in some ways. Villanova’s media day traveling party arrived Monday in New York. While Willard had some other things to attend to — including a meal with Jay Wright — Lewis, Perkins, and another Villanova staff member dined at TAO, the popular upscale Asian fusion chain. On Tuesday, Lewis was in Madison Square Garden fulfilling various media obligations, shaking hands, smiling for the cameras.

“Most freshmen don’t get the chance to do this, not even sophomores,” he said. “This definitely isn’t normal. I’m just really thankful that I get to be in opportunities like this, and that’s why I’m here to experience some of these things. I’m here with a lot of talented guys, amazing coaches, legendary coaches, and we’re in New York. This is amazing.”

The Wildcats were picked to finish seventh among 11 teams in the Big East’s preseason poll. The conference is a “guard league,” Willard said, and while Villanova has a couple of other traditional guards — like Askew and Bryce Lindsay — who will factor largely in where the 2025-26 season goes, the dynamic between Lewis and Perkins will be a big one.

Lewis is a self-described “flashy” player, and his big and mature personality was on display for a larger audience Tuesday. Perkins is an off-ball guard whose defensive intensity might be the loudest thing about him. He’s quiet but steady, and Villanova will need that to stabilize what could be a bumpy early portion of the season as all the new pieces try to fit together.

Willard will rely on that steadiness from Perkins, too, to help Lewis navigate his first college basketball season.

That much has been communicated to Perkins.

“[Willard] just said it’s not going to be easy for him and us as a team,” Perkins said.

And the dueling dispositions?

“We definitely do have two different personalities, but they mix, though,” Perkins said.

» READ MORE: Kevin Willard is ‘home’ at Big East media day, where his Villanova Wildcats are picked seventh

How will Perkins help Lewis in Willard’s mind?

“Tyler’s the only guy we have that has experience,” Willard said. “He’s the only guy that’s scored in the Big East so far. So what I rely Tyler on is to teach Acaden the intensity that you have to play in this league. It’s such a big transition. … Every night, he’s going to face physicality. Every night, he’s going to have to be on. Tyler has been really good in, not only in practice, but just talking to Acaden about ‘You can’t be cute. You can’t be casual. You have to be on the go at all times.’ I think Acaden’s really taken that message and ran with it.”

Not always. Villanova won its first exhibition game Sunday vs. Virginia Commonwealth. Lewis led all scorers with 15 points while adding three assists (against three turnovers). Perkins had 14 points, five rebounds, and five steals. But Lewis’ flashiness was on display. Near the end of the first half, the freshman tossed an underhanded pass deep down the court. It worked, but his new coach wasn’t a big fan.

Most of Villanova’s players and coaches traveled one way to get back to the locker room for halftime, but Willard and Lewis took a different route.

“He cursed me out the whole time there,” Lewis said. “It just wasn’t the best play. He told me I could beat the big [man], so there was no need to do all of that. He just gave me a little bit of words of encouragement.”

That’s one way to put it.

“It did work, so I couldn’t really argue with him as we were walking off the court,” Willard said. “But I think I told him, ‘If you ever ... do that again, I’m going to kill you.’ He kind of said, ‘OK, I’m going to go with your message and not my message.’”

Another new experience, and another lesson learned in a season when there will be many — some from a fiery coach, others from a quiet teammate.