Overview
 
Another potent offensive display helped to carry Villanova past a pesky Duquesne squad 87-77 before a full house Saturday evening at Finneran Pavilion. That followed on the heels of consecutive 94-point outbursts in wins over Queens and Sacred Heart in the first two games of the Villanova Challenge MTE.
 
The Dukes, however, were a handful at times, displaying a high-powered offense of their own. Duquesne held the lead for a good chunk of the first half before a 19-3 push gave the Wildcats a 45-35 margin at intermission.
 
Villanova eventually expanded the lead to 84-63 before the Dukes mounted one last surge to narrow the final count to 87-77.
 
"It's something we saw on film and talked about," said Villanova head coach Kevin Willard of Duquesne. "The first 10 minutes of a game they are as quick as any team I have seen on film. Sometimes you can show guys that on film. Sometimes, you just have to go through it.
 
"I thought we did a good job of adjusting to their speed and tempo. Once we got adjusted to it, I thought we made better decisions."
 
Dukes Grabbed Early Lead
 
Duquesne features a fast-paced style and that led to a trio of early 3-pointers that staked it to a 13-7 lead after 4:26. Villanova, meanwhile, connected on just 2-of-9 attempts from the field in the early moments.
 
The lead narrowed to 15-12 after 8:01 thanks to a VU defense that forced six turnovers. But the Wildcats were out of sync offensively, going 2-of-10 in that span from the field. Eight of those 12 points came at the line.
 
The Wildcats tied the game at 25 when Devin Askew dropped in Nova's first deep ball of the night. Duquesne had a quick answer, however, when Tarence Guinyard drilled a triple from the left wing to put the Dukes back on top, 28-25 at the 6:48 mark of the first half.
 
At that point Duquesne was 10-of-17 from the floor (.588) and 5-9 from beyond the 3-point arc (.556).
 
'Cats Guards Got Going
 
Freshman guard Acaden Lewis and grad transfer Askew teamed up to ignite a 10-3 spurt that pushed Villanova back in front, 35-31. Duquesne called for time with 3:55 to play in the first half.
 
Villanova kept the heat turned up in front of a raucous sellout crowd this Saturday night at Finneran Pavilion. When the teams headed back to the locker room, Villanova held a 45-35 lead. It did so in part to the 12 turnovers that led to a 15-8 edge in points off turnovers. Some late in the half scoring fireworks by Bryce Lindsay gave him 11 points at the break while Lewis added 10 points and four rebounds.
 
Dukes Offense Kept It Within Range
 
The Wildcats sank 6-of-9 to open the second half to stretch the lead to 59-46. Duquesne, however, was even better, converting 5-of-8 from the field over the first 13:09, including 4-of-5 from distance to shave the lead to 59-53.
 
But Villanova came up with key stops that helped ignite a decisive 11-0 burst over 1:51 towards the end of the period that led to that 84-63 margin with 4:40 remaining to play. The Duke enjoyed a 14-3 edge the rest of the way but at that point the outcome was not in doubt.
 
Lewis led Villanova with 19 points while Lindsay added 18 points. Matt Hodge chipped in 15 points and four rebounds while Duke Brennan posted his fourth straight double figure rebound outing with 13 caroms.
 
Medical Center
 
Guard Malcolm Flaggs (strained right achilles) and forward Tafara Gapare (right foot injury) were not in uniform Saturday night.
 
For the first time in 2025-26, junior guard Zion Stanford (Philadelphia, Pa./West Catholic High School) was in uniform and available. A sprained left ankle had sidelined Stanford for the Wildcats two exhibition games and three regular season contests.
 
Stanford logged 2:33 in the first half as Willard looked to get the transfer from Temple acclimated to game speed.
 
"I thought Zion looked good," Willard said after the game.
 
What They Said
 
Willard: "I think we're doing a lot of good things offensively. We're sharing the basketball. (But) we're really struggling defensively. I think if we could ever get our defense to be good with what our offense is doing, that would be a good thing for us."