Villanova survived a scare from Marquette, but there are concerns. One in particular? Poor foul shooting.

Acaden Lewis toed the free-throw line with 3 minutes, 35 seconds left in the second half Tuesday night and Villanova trailing Marquette by three. The freshman point guard released the first of two attempts and watched as it failed to reach the rim. The second attempt was only mildly better and clanked off the front of it.

Just over a minute later, he found himself back at the line after being fouled on a drive. The deficit was still three.

In this moment, it would be Tyler Perkins who inspired the winning plays in Villanova’s 77-74 victory. They were visible all night in Perkins’ clutch three-pointers, his game-winning block, and a key steal, finishing with a team-high 22 points.

But his night also included a moment of leadership, a junior making sure a freshman could forget what had just happened.

“Tyler came up to me and was just like, ‘You’re built for these moments,’” Lewis said.

“I just relaxed and shot them.”

Both shots went in. Lewis cut Marquette’s lead to one. The tide was starting to turn, and Villanova (19-5, 10-3 Big East) rode the wave and avoided a bad loss to a struggling Marquette team.

That is the thing about free throws. They giveth and taketh. Lewis described his two misses as “uncharacteristic,” but he is shooting 60.5% on the season, and the Wildcats ended the night ranked 289th in the country and 10th of 11 Big East teams in free throw percentage (69%).

They made their last six free throws and won the game at the line over the final 2 minutes, 10 seconds. But they were in a tight game against an inferior opponent in large part because they were 12-for-25 prior to the closing minutes.

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Villanova’s win against Georgetown Saturday didn’t have to be as hard as it was. Fourteen missed free throws made it nervy. The fans inside Finneran Pavilion Tuesday night know the issues well. They gave a Bronx cheer to freshman Chris Jeffrey when he made a pair of free throws midway through the second half.

It is worth mentioning that the struggles are not normal for a program that has consistently resided at the top of the conference and near the top of the country in free throw percentage for much of the last decade. But it is not particularly relevant context given Kevin Willard is in his first season coaching an entirely new team.

Still, what gives?

“Everyone is in there every day,” Willard said. “It’s not like we’re not doing it. I think it’s a little mental right now. I think we miss one and it’s like we got a little bit too much negative emotion right now on the free throw line. I got to change that somehow.”

How does one change a mentality this late in the season?

“We’ll get there,” Willard said. “If we can improve our free throw shooting and make a couple layups in the first half it’s a completely different game. We held them to 32 points [in that first half], we should’ve had 44 points and it’s a different type of game.”

Willard was flanked in his post-game press conference by Lewis and Perkins. He turned to Lewis and mentioned that the freshman shoots around 200 extra free throw shots after practices, and noted that Perkins, who is shooting 75% on the season, never misses in practice.

“I have a lot of confidence in these guys that as we go through February and get into March that we’ll make them,” Willard said.

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Bryce Lindsay made his first shot Tuesday night, a three-pointer less than two minutes into the game.

It had to, at least briefly, feel like the weight of the world was off his shoulders. Lindsay entered the night having made just 15 of his previous 64 attempts from three-point range (23.4%) over Villanova’s last 10 games since the calendar turned to 2026. The sharpshooting redshirt-sophomore guard was a big reason behind Villanova’s strong start to the season, but he has reached double figures just three times in the last 11 games. That initial attempt Tuesday night was his only make on six tries. He went scoreless Saturday afternoon at Georgetown.

“He’s gonna get going,” Willard said. “It’s a little mental. I talked to the team earlier, before the game, about staying in the moment. Talking to each other and not worrying about the past, not worrying about the future, just trying to stay in the present. Sometimes it’s hard when you’re not playing well to kind of stay in the moment.

“I have a lot of confidence in Bryce. He’s in the gym with me every day working. He’s going to get it. I thought he had some good opportunities tonight. When you’re struggling the way he’s struggling sometimes you just need one, get a good bounce, bank one in. I told him to sleep on the other side of the bed tonight. Sometimes you just got to try something different.”

Something different, like starting sixth man Devin Askew and giving Lindsay a different look off the bench?

“No,” Willard said. “He’s still doing a lot of other things and people have to guard him.”

Lindsay did still impact the game in positive ways despite only scoring four points. He was a plus-8 and had three rebounds and four assists, including a key pass to the corner for a Matt Hodge three-pointer with four minutes left in the game.

Willard said he likes Askew coming off the bench as a “security blanket.”

Speaking of which ... it was Askew who made two free throws with 11 seconds left that Villanova a three-point lead and forced Marquette into a desperation three-point attempt.

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