Stifling defense and new-look rotations highlight Villanova’s blowout win at DePaul

Villanova entered Wednesday with a 9-3 road record, but the last true road game of the season for the Wildcats came with a new wrinkle, and a new starting lineup after Matt Hodge suffered a season-ending ACL injury Saturday night vs. St. John’s.

Villanova coach Kevin Willard said Tuesday that the injury hurt Villanova, but “it’s not catastrophic." The Wildcats had the right answers to make up for missing their sixth-leading scorer, Willard thought, and while a sloppy first half didn’t make him look like much of a prophet, a much better second half helped Villanova turn a tight game into a rout and an eventual 76-57 win over DePaul.

The Wildcats improved to 23-7 on the season and 14-5 in the Big East behind big nights from Tyler Perkins (20 points, six rebounds), Duke Brennan (15 points, 12 rebounds), and Devin Askew (14 points, five rebounds). It was their eighth conference road win, their most since 2016.

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Here are a few observations from the victory:

DePaul is the second-worst scoring offense in the Big East and ranks seventh of the 11 teams in three-point shooting (33.1%).

It’s on the defensive end where Hodge’s absence in the starting five won’t be felt in a major way. That’s not to say Hodge, a redshirt-freshman, hasn’t held his own, but inserting Malachi Palmer in the lineup gives Villanova more versatility. Palmer is two inches smaller than Hodge at 6-foot-6 and allows the Wildcats to effectively switch more, which was especially effective against DePaul’s pick-and-roll offense.

Villanova was aggressive on the ball defensively and created 16 DePaul turnovers, leading to 22 points off those turnovers. Villanova got its own good looks in the first half but shot just 27.6%. The Wildcats survived a slow start because they forced seven turnovers and limited DePaul to just 24 points. It was the third time this season Villanova allowed fewer than 25 points in an opening half.

In the second half, Willard deployed more matchup zone and dared DePaul to try to shoot its way to a win. The Blue Demons were just 2-for-16 from three-point range, and many of those were either well-contested or forced into the hands of low-percentage shooters.

Three Wildcats had at least two steals. Perkins had four, while Bryce Lindsay and Acaden Lewis had two apiece.

Palmer, as expected, got the start and tied his season-high with 29 minutes, a mark he reached for the first time Saturday night in part because of Hodge’s injury early in the second half.

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Palmer, a sophomore, looked a little jittery to start but settled in during the second half. He finished with 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting (1-for-4 from deep) and added five rebounds.

Askew was the first player off the bench as usual. Then freshman guard Chris Jeffrey and backup center Braden Pierce, a redshirt-freshman. Hodge’s absence will force Villanova into some awkward rotations when Palmer needs to rest. Willard had brief stretches with one big man and four guards on the floor, a unit that he won’t be afraid to roll with depending on matchups because of Perkins’ physicality and rebounding ability.

What Villanova didn’t show Wednesday was a two-big look with Brennan and Pierce both on the floor. Willard said he’ll be willing to go to it, and the Wildcats have practiced it some, but DePaul did not have a ton of size to force Villanova to counter.

Brennan played 35 minutes for the fourth time in a game that ended in regulation. Palmer played 19 of the 20 minutes in the second half while Pierce (two minutes) and Jeffrey (one minute) played sparingly. They finished with five and three minutes, respectively. An eight-man rotation was effectively a six-player rotation. It worked fine Wednesday night, and may work fine again Saturday in the regular season finale vs. Xavier, but tougher tests await in the postseason.

Hodge being out meant Zion Stanford, a West Catholic graduate and Temple transfer, potentially was in line for more of a role. The junior had seemingly fallen out of the rotation and hadn’t played since Feb. 4.

But Stanford was not with the team in Chicago. He practiced Wednesday, according to sources, but didn’t travel with the team and the nature of his absence was unclear.

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Willard told the broadcast after the game that he “got after” his team a little bit in two days of practice following what was the worst Villanova loss in 29 years.

Willard attributed the missed shots and carelessness offensively to still dealing with the emotional letdown of having Hodge out. But things settled down after halftime. The Wildcats changed up their defense and were much more efficient on the offensive end.

It’s no surprise that it was Askew, Brennan, and Perkins — a graduate student, a senior, and a junior — who helped lead the way in the second half.

The regular season ends Saturday with a noon home game vs. Xavier. A win would give Villanova 15 conference wins for the first time since 2021-22, Jay Wright’s final season. That possibility may be a little less daunting considering Xavier’s Tre Carroll, the Big East’s leading scorer (18 points per game), went down with an injury Tuesday night. His status for Saturday is not yet known.

The Wildcats are on their way to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022, but first is the conference tournament next week in New York, where Villanova will be the No. 3 seed. They open up in the final game of the quarterfinals next Thursday night (9:30 p.m.) vs. the winner of the No. 6 vs. No. 11 matchup.