Around The Big East: Villanova Wildcats

Will D. Cat, the Villanova Wildcats mascot, participates in an NCAA basketball game at Finneran Pavilion in Villanova, United States, on November 11, 2025 (Photo by Dan Squicciarini/NurPhoto via Getty Images). | NurPhoto via Getty Images

2025-26 Season Recap:

24-9 record, 15-5 in conference play
Finished in third place in the Big East
Lost to Georgetown in the Big East Tournament (Quarterfinals)
Lost to No. 9 Utah State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament

Head Coach: Kevin Willard returns for his second season at the helm.

Departing players:

Duke Brennan – Oklahoma (12.4 PPG)

Bryce Lindsay – Indiana (12.3 PPG)

Acaden Lewis – Miami (FL) (12.2 PPG)

Devin Askew – Graduation (9.8 PPG)

Malachi Palmer – Minnesota (4.6 PPG)

Chris Jeffrey – Loyola Chicago (3 PPG)

Tafara Gapare – Coppin State (2.9 PPG)

Zion Stanford – Towson (1.3 PPG)

Braden Pierce – Charleston (1.2 PPG)

Malcolm Flaggs – Graduation (0.8 PPG)

Returning Players:

Tyler Perkins – 6’4” senior who averaged 13.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game on 44% from the floor and 36.9% from three.

Matt Hodge – 6’8” redshirt sophomore who averaged 9.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game on 45.2% from the floor and 36.8% from three. Hodge is recovering from ACL surgery.

Nico Onyekwere – 7’1” center who redshirted his freshman year.

Wade Chiddick – 6’4” graduate who appeared in two games, scoring three points.

New Players:

Kwame Evans Jr. – 6’10” senior transfer from Oregon who averaged 13.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on 45.4% from the floor and 30.4% from three.

Devin Royal – 6’6” senior transfer from Ohio State who averaged 13.7 points and 5.7 rebounds on 47.6% from the floor and 31.6% from three.

Luigi Suigo – 7’3” freshman from Tradate, Varese, Italy. Suigo played for BC Mega Basket of the Adriatic League in 2025-26, averaging 7.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Suigo is 19-years old.

Jake Fiegen – 6’4” graduate transfer from Cornell who averaged 17.1 points and 5.1 rebounds on 54.6% from the floor and 41.4% from three.

Elijah Crawford – 6’3” junior transfer from Illinois-Chicago who averaged 14.1 points, 4.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game on 45.3% from the floor and 27.6% from three. Crawford played his first season at BYU.

Darryl “Buddy” Simmons II – 5’11” senior transfer from St. Bonaventure who averaged 16.4 points and 2.8 assists on 44.2% from the floor and 42.5% from three. Simmons II played his first two seasons at Gardner-Webb.

Adam Oumiddoch – 6’5” freshman from Woodbridge, Virginia. Oumiddoch is a four-star recruited and ranked 64th nationally on 247Sports.

Carter Fisk – 6’2” freshman from Baltimore, Maryland. Fisk is an unranked recruit across platforms.

Abdou Samb – 6’8” redshirt senior transfer from Towson who averaged 0.9 points per game in seven games played. Samb missed the rest of the season with a leg injury. Prior to his two years at Towson, Samb spent a year at both Rhode Island and IU-Indianapolis.

Brady Muller – 6’4” graduate transfer from Bucknell who averaged 1.2 points in 16 games played.

Overall thoughts:

There’s not much to be said here that hasn’t already been said over the past few months, but Villanova had a great offseason. Much like the Big East as a whole, the funding for the team went up, and the results are clear. Willard sought to add more size, experience and toughness to the roster and did just that. The full-strength rotation will feature a much bigger starting lineup, along with all but two players being in at least their third year of college basketball (Suigo and Oumiddoch).

Given the recent success of both Connecticut and St. John’s, most didn’t expect Villanova to be picked to finish higher than third in the conference. The coaches agreed, ranking Villanova third in the Big East Preseason Poll. Many feel that the Wildcats are in the conversation with Marquette, Providence, Xavier and Creighton, but Jon Rothstein of CBS feels that they should closer to the Connecticut/St. John’s end of things. I would agree with Rothstein, as Villanova will have the experience and versatility to deal with those teams in a way that wasn’t possible a year ago.

The combination of Royal, Evans Jr., Suigo and eventually Matt Hodge will allow Willard to play a variety of frontcourt pairings, while also being able to move Perkins across the wings. Last season, Perkins was not able to play the two given the glut of guards and the limited frontcourt depth. Rebounding should be a strength of this team, whereas a year ago it was a weakness. The one spot that is ambiguous at this time is the point guard position. Both Crawford and Simmons II will need to step up if this team plans on making a deep NCAA-Tournament run. But the pieces and the potential are there for that, they just need to come together at the right time.

Player previews:

Player Preview: Darryl Simmons II | VU Hoops

Player Preview: Carter Fisk | VU Hoops

Player Preview: Nico Onyekwere | VU Hoops

Player Preview: Elijah Crawford | VU Hoops

Player Preview: Adam Oumiddoch | VU Hoops

Player Preview: Kwame Evans Jr. | VU Hoops

Player Preview: Tyler Perkins | VU Hoops

Player Preview: Matt Hodge | VU Hoops

Player Preview: Jake Fiegen | VU Hoops

Player Preview: Luigi Suigo | VU Hoops

Player Preview: The 2026-27 Bench Mob | VU Hoops