Villanova Preview: Can Wildcats Slow Down High-Scoring Cavs?

Villanova Men’s Basketball will conclude their preseason schedule when they face the Virginia Cavaliers on the road at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24.

The Wildcats won their first exhibition 70-51 at home against VCU, while the Cavs lost 95-87 to a tough Vanderbilt squad that made the NCAA Tournament last season. Freshman point guard Acaden Lewis led the charge in Villanova’s win, scoring 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while the Wildcats’ defense put on a dominant performance. Tyler Perkins (14 points, five steals), Bryce Lindsay (12 points) and Duke Brennan (10 points, 5-of-6 shooting) also all finished in double figures.

Unlike Villanova’s preseason opener, this game will be televised on the ACC Network Extra; for those who don’t have a subscription, Villanova Sports Network will have the call at 89.1 FM or online at WXVU.org.

Virginia didn’t release statistics from their preseason opener. This Cavaliers team looks a lot different from the one Villanova faced last season. Desmond Roberts, who appeared in five games for an average of 1.4 minutes, is the only one of three returning players to have taken the court for UVA last season; Elijah Gertrude played for them in 2023-24 but missed all of last year with a knee injury. 

Scouting the Cavaliers

The Cavaliers also have a new head coach in Ryan Odom, who took VCU to an NCAA Tournament appearance as the A-10 champion last year. Odom used a number of different lineups against Vanderbilt, getting to know his roster rather than going with a traditional starting lineup. Whether he uses the matchup with Villanova as another fact-finding mission or if he plans to rev up for game action remains unclear. 

Leading Virginia’s seven player transfer class is 6-foot-5 graduate guard Malik Thomas, who put up 19.9 points per game with San Francisco in the WCC last season. Seeing how Villanova guard Malachi Palmer, a 6-foot-6 sophomore praised for his versatility, can match up against Thomas could turn into a fascinating subplot for this game. 

Forward Devin Tillis (13.7 points, 7.8 rebounds per game at UC Irvine in 2024-25), NDSU transfer guard Jacari White (17.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last season), and Toledo Transfer guard Sam Lewis (16.2 points) should also provide major contributions. The Cavaliers can score in bunches, as evidenced through their 87 point showing (albeit in 48 minutes) at Vanderbilt: this game will serve as an excellent test of Villanova’s defense.

One face Wildcats fans might remember from the Cavaliers is freshman point guard Chance Mallory, a recruiting target for Villanova last season who decommitted following Tony Bennett’s retirement but ultimately decided to stick with his hometown team.