VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats return to Finneran Pavilion to Saturday to close out the 2025-26 regular season when they host Xavier (14-16 overall, 6-13 BIG EAST) at noon.
 
As part of the festivities, Villanova will salute five individuals participating in their final home game on "Senior Day". Players Devin Askew, Duke Brennan and Wade Chiddick along with Head Student Manager Jason Wain and Student Staff member Jack Blimm will be honored prior to the game. Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 11:30 a.m. for this special ceremony.
 
A limited supply of tickets remain available for this matchup and may be purchased by clicking the link at the top of this page. Villanova University students are on spring break this week.
 
On Wednesday night, the Wildcats leaned on one of their best defensive efforts of the season to record win No. 23 (23-7 overall, 14-5 BIG EAST) at DePaul, 76-57. It was their ninth true road victory of the campaign, including eight away from home in league play. That ties a school record set in 2015-16.
 
"It shows that we're road warriors," Brennan said after posting his 13^th double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. "We can go out to places and play as a team, play together. Adversity doesn't affect us at certain times. I'm really happy with where we are."
 
The Wildcats played their first game without starting forward Matt Hodge in Chicago. Hodge suffered a torn ACL in his right knee in last Saturday night's game at Madison Square Garden against St. John's. Sophomore Malachi Palmer stepped into the void nicely, adding 10 points and five rebounds in a season high 29:26 of court time.
 
Key to the win over the Blue Demons was Nova's ability to turn the ball over. The Wildcats forced 16 DePaul miscues that led to a 22-14 edge in points off turnovers for Villanova. In addition, the Wildcats limited DePaul to 2-of-16 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc (.125). They lead the BIG EAST in 3-Point Field Goal Defense (.307) in league play.
 
Saturday's clash brings the Musketeers and Wildcats together for the second time in 18 days. Nova outlasted Xavier 92-89 in overtime in Cincinnati on Feb. 17 with Acaden Lewis setting the scoring pace with 21 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists.
 
TNT and TruTV will carry the game nationally with Brian Anderson, Grant Hill and Andy Katz on site for the networks. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will have the audio call on the Villanova Sports Radio Network (Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia, IHeart app, Sirius XM channel 389 and the TuneIn app).
Askew has been one of the more impactful sixth men in the BIG EAST, averaging 10.3 points per game across 19 contests while connecting on .388 of his attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.
 
Brennan has been among the nation's leading rebounders all season – his 10.4 rpg number ranks ninth in the country entering the weekend – and he enters play Saturday with 991 career points over his time at Arizona State, Grand Canyon and Villanova.
 
Chiddick, a King of Prussia native and a Presidential Scholar in the Honors Program at Villanova, joined the active roster in 2024 as a walk-on.
 
Villanova is one of two BIG EAST teams with its seeding set at next week's BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep. The Wildcats are the No. 3 seed, set to play the winner of the 6-11 matchup in the second game on Thursday night at the Garden. Seton Hall is set as the No. 4 seed. The remainder of the bracket will be determined by the results of one game Friday night and four more slated for Saturday.