Willard says Villanova needs work, but Wildcats’ start suggests strong foundation is already in place

Bryce Lindsay’s torrid shooting has fueled Villanova’s efficient start to season as Wildcats retool under Kevin Willard. (Photo by Villanova Men’s Basketball)

VILLANOVA, Pa. — Twice within the past week, Kevin Willard was asked whether he was impressed with the way his Villanova team had performed, or if it had turned a corner perhaps earlier than expected.

The veteran coach immediately dismissed both notions.

“Really nothing so far, just how hard we play,” he said of any potential positives Saturday, even after the Wildcats had just posted 94 points against Queens University to win their home opener and give Willard his first victory as Kyle Neptune’s successor. “We’re not good on defense and we’re not good on offense right now.”

Only 72 hours later, after Villanova smashed a school record for three-point field goals in a single game, draining 22 triples in a demolition of Sacred Heart, Willard doubled down on his sentiment.

“We still have a lot of work,” he reiterated Tuesday. “Defensively, we’re just not good.”

Willard, whose best teams have always used defense as their calling cards going back to his time at Seton Hall, is actually correct on that statement. The 0.92 points per possession Villanova held Sacred Heart to on Tuesday was the first time in the young season that the Wildcats conceded fewer than one point per possession after yielding 1.04 and 1.16 to BYU and Queens, respectively. By Ken Pomeroy’s metrics, the Villanova defense presently ranks 40th in the nation, nothing to sneeze at, but still below the 32nd, 14th and 7th-best marks Willard progressively improved upon in his three years at Maryland.

Going back to Willard’s Big East championship season at Seton Hall in 2015-16, his teams have finished outside the Top 50 just twice in a full season (for this exercise, the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign is excluded since COVID-19 altered most of the non-conference schedule), in 2017-18 (62nd) and 2018-19 (60th).

Conversely, the offense he says needs improvement is 44th on KenPom presently, well above his 10-year average of 64.5. However, a Willard offense has only finished inside the Top 25 twice in that stretch, his 2017-18 Seton Hall unit that placed 17th, and last year’s 23rd-best mark on a Maryland team that reached the Sweet 16. But by the efficiency numbers, Villanova looks the part of a contender.

The Wildcats obliterated their 0.97 points per possession figure from last week’s season opener, erupting for 1.36 against Queens and 1.42 in the win against Sacred Heart. While the 94-point outputs were the same in both wins, the tenor of each game was different. Villanova took only 19 threes against Queens, then proceeded to attempt 43 at the hands of Sacred Heart, with 22 of those splashing through the Finneran Pavilion nets.

“When you have guys that are making shots, I’m gonna let them shoot it,” Willard said Tuesday after Bryce Lindsay scored all of his 27 points on a school record nine threes, while Devin Askew matched his teammate by drawing a bullseye on seven triples of his own. “We’ve got good shooters. It’s a matter of understanding that early in the season, (with) guys coming off injuries, new lineups, new everything, it just takes a little time. All these guys are starting to understand that if they do the right thing, play the right way, they have total freedom.”

“I think guys are getting the team chemistry now,” Lindsay said. “We understand where and who takes the shots that they want.”

Most notably, the Wildcats are getting back into a clean bill of health. Askew played his highest minute total in Tuesday’s win, and Chris Jeffrey made his return to the lineup as well. Tafara Gapare missed Tuesday’s game with a foot injury, and Zion Stanford is out until December, meaning Villanova will eventually be able to employ a 10-man rotation, which grows to 11 when Malcolm Flaggs is ready to debut. In the interim, a smaller, quick lineup has been anchored by Duke Brennan, the Grand Canyon transfer who has amassed 11 or more rebounds in each of his three games and proven to be an indispensable piece of the rotation.

Duke Brennan has 46 rebounds in Villanova’s first three games, including 21 on offensive glass. (Photo by Villanova Men’s Basketball)

“Duke is great,” Willard gushed. “He’s a great roller, a great rebounder, he does so many good things for us. He’s had my utmost respect from day one when we played against him last year (at Maryland), how hard he plays, his motor. Now we’re just trying to put him in some different situations. We’re trying to keep him a little bit lower (in the post) at times because I think he could be dominant down there with rebounding.”

“I’m just setting a tone for my team,” Brennan said of his hard-nosed rebounding style. “Me being a senior out there, me being a seasoned vet, I really gotta set the tone physically, going out with that mindset every single day, especially in practice but in games mostly, just going out and getting boards to help my team any way I can.”

Still, Villanova was not this coordinated this soon under Kyle Neptune, a sign of progress on the Main Line as Willard continues to craft his style and system. And with Big 5 contests looming against La Salle and Temple, plus imposing challenges against Michigan and Wisconsin — with whom the coach is familiar from having faced each in the Big Ten — it is safe to say the early returns have been promising despite the poker face employed by the man charged with overseeing a renaissance.

“We’re not a huge post-up team,” Willard said. “When you have guys that can really fill it up, we start playing with great tempo and passing the basketball. To do that early in the year is pretty darn good.”