VILLANOVA, Pa. – Five years of playing high level college basketball have reinforced an important lesson to Villanova graduate transfer guard Devin Askew.
 
"Stay poised," Asked said after helping the Wildcats hold off Marquette Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee before an energetic crowd of 15,342 at Fiserv Forum. "You have to stay poised through the games, through the ups and the downs."
 
Askew's steady hand is especially helpful to a young roster that regularly leans on three starters – Acaden Lewis, Matt Hodge and Bryce Lindsay – in their first and second year of college basketball. That was especially true against the Golden Eagles, with the group's only other veteran, senior Duke Brennan, saddled with foul trouble. The native of Sacramento, Cal., scored all 13 of his points in the second half as Nova repelled a series of Golden Eagles comeback bids.
 
He added a team-high six rebounds to his totals too.
 
"Dev's been playing really well the last four or five games," stated Villanova head coach Kevin Willard. "He hasn't been shooting it well, but he's been playing well. I thought he got a couple of good mismatches and hit a couple of pull-up jumpers that kind of settled us down."
 
The Long Beach State transfer averages 21.9 minutes and 8.6 points per game for the Wildcats in 2025-26. A knee sprain sent him to the sidelines for most of September and October and he saw his first game action in the season opener against BYU in Las Vegas.
 
Numbers, however, don't fully capture the scope of Askew's contributions.
 
"Devin's amazing on and off the court," stated Lewis, who scored 20 points and added eight assists to the win over Marquette. "Some of those tough two's he made late in the game were the reason we won the game.
 
"He's always on your side, ready to build you up, be a big brother. I think that's amazing."
 
Villanova will need to bring its tough exterior with it on Tuesday night, when it meets host Providence (8-8 overall, 1-4 BIG EAST) at 6:30 p.m. Amica Mutual Pavilion has historically been one of the more challenging road venues in the BIG EAST and figures to be loud for this clash.
 
The game will be carried nationally on FS1 (Dave Sims and Tarik Turner). Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will be on site to describe the action on the Villanova Sports Radio Network (Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia, iHeart App, SiriusXM channel 380 and the TuneIn App).
 
The BIG EAST action continues later this week for the Wildcats when they head to Xfinity Mobile Arena to host St. John's at 8 p.m. Tickets for this marquee matchup can be purchased by clicking on the link at the top of this page.