The short- and long-term implications of Matt Hodge’s injury for Kevin Willard and Villanova

It’s worth addressing the human part of Matt Hodge’s right ACL tear first.

The Villanova forward was having a solid first college basketball season after an NCAA ruling prevented him from playing last year as a freshman. The long wait was worth it. Hodge made his 29th start in Villanova’s 29th game of the season Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. He hit two three-pointers and was on his way to reach his season average of 9.2 points per game before he crumpled to the floor early in the second half after making a move in the post.

Hodge will undergo surgery to his right knee and miss the rest of the season.

“It just really stinks that the kid was going to be able to play in his first Big East tournament, his first NCAA Tournament, that’s really where [my head] is at,” Villanova coach Kevin Willard said Tuesday.

» READ MORE: Villanova forward Matt Hodge suffers season-ending knee injury

But this is March, crunch time in college basketball, and so while Willard was feeling for the player he recruited out of high school while still the coach at Maryland, Villanova has a game Wednesday night and another on Saturday before postseason play begins.

Hodge was playing more than 28 minutes per game in the 28 games prior to Saturday, and the 6-foot-8 forward going down leaves Willard with a big hole to fill for a team with limited front-court depth.

Willard answered the obvious first question — who goes into the starting five? — by saying sophomore wing Malachi Palmer, who will likely get his first college start in his 52nd career game Wednesday night at DePaul. Palmer, a 6-6 sophomore wing, is the sort of obvious replacement. Save for backup center Braden Pierce, Palmer is the biggest and most physical defender Villanova brings off the bench.

Palmer had a relatively quiet first half of the season but has emerged in conference play as a willing defender and someone who can knock down three-point shots.

“Obviously not having Matty stinks, but Malachi has played really well,” Willard said. “It does hurt us, but it’s not catastrophic.”

While Palmer starting offers more of a traditional one-through-five lineup for Willard, there will be variations that have the Wildcats going smaller or bigger. The smaller unit would have Tyler Perkins — who at 6-4 is Villanova’s second-leading rebounder (5.5 per game) — guarding a forward in a lineup that also has three other guards — Acaden Lewis, Bryce Lindsay, and Devin Askew — on the floor.

The bigger unit would be one that hasn’t happened yet this season: Pierce being on the floor at the same time as starting center Duke Brennan. Neither big man stretches the floor with outside shooting ability. So, how would that work?

Willard pointed to his two-big lineups last year at Maryland, where Derik Queen and Julian Reese played side-by-side and while Queen could shoot a little bit, he rarely attempted three-pointers. Lineups with Brennan and Pierce on the floor at the same time would feature more screening and more side-to-side action, Willard said. One big hides in the dunker’s spot, for example, while the other is rolling.

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Villanova has practiced with both bigs on the floor, Willard said, in case it ever needed to match up against bigger lineups. It’s a lineup the Wildcats could have had to use in the postseason with or without Hodge’s injury, now it’s one they could deploy as soon as Wednesday night.

Temple transfer Zion Stanford, who has barely played in conference play, could factor into the rotation more significantly, too.

Those are the short-term implications, and Willard has two regular season games to tinker with the rotation before the Big East tournament.

But it being March also means it’s time to start considering next season’s roster. Willard said Hodge’s injury “does and it doesn’t” have major implications for the 2026-27 Wildcats. That’s because Willard is planning for Hodge to return and take on a big role. Willard said he expects Hodge to need around eight months to return from his injury, and he could be practicing by October.

“We’re planning on Matt playing for us next year,” Willard said.

There will still need to be plans for the plans, though. That means making sure to stockpile the roster via the portal or otherwise in case Hodge isn’t ready to go right away or, worse, has a setback. Villanova’s priorities for the portal were going to be adding talent and athleticism in the front court anyway with Brennan graduating.

From that standpoint, Hodge’s injury hasn’t changed a ton. But it will be on Willard’s mind as he and general manager Baker Dunleavy navigate the frenzy that is the transfer portal, which is only one month away.