Villanova Drops La Salle Behind Strong Defense; Brennan Exits With Injury

Villanova Men’s Basketball won their Big 5 opener on Wednesday, Nov. 19, taking down the La Salle Explorers 70-55 in North Philadelphia.

The win marks the Wildcats’ (4-1) best defensive effort of the young season, a continued point of emphasis under head coach Kevin Willard. Villanova began the second half on a 17-9 run, not letting the Explorers across the 40-point barrier until 6-foot-10 forward Duke Brennan left with a lower leg injury with less than ten minutes to play. Brennan, who entered as the nation’s leading rebounder, attempted to stay in the game after the injury, indicating it won’t keep him out for a long time, but ultimately headed to the bench.

Matt Hodge led the Wildcats in scoring with 17 points. Tyler Perkins (13), Acaden Lewis (12) and Bryce Lindsay (10) also finished in double figures; Lewis racked up a team high six assists and committed just one turnover of consequence, the other coming as he dribbled out the clock at the end of the game.

Eric Acker (17 points), Rob Dockery (13), and Jaeden Marshall (10), finished in double figures for the Explorers.

Defense Leads the Way

Villanova raced out to a 9-0 lead and played an aggressive full court press early, forcing the Explorers to drain away most of the shot clock: La Salle finished 22-of-51 from the field.

Head coach Kevin Willard substituted in reserves Devin Askew, Malachi Palmer, Zion Stanford and Chris Jeffrey alongside Brennan at the first media timeout, helping to spark an 8-2 run for La Salle that cut their lead to 15-12; depth remains an area to watch as Willard tinkers with his lineups.

On the other end of the court, the Wildcats took 25 of their 54 shots from beyond the arc, making just eight of them. Despite that lack of success, Villanova still managed to push their lead as high as 22 points before a late 9-2 run from La Salle that included two of their three made three-pointers on the night helped them make the final score look more respectable.

La Salle falls to 0-2 in Big 5 pod play, setting them up for the fifth place game at the Big 5 Classic on Saturday, Dec. 6; if Villanova beats Temple at home on Monday, Dec. 1, they’ll punch their ticket to the Big 5 Classic championship game that same day.