On Wednesday, Feb. 25, Villanova men’s basketball secured its twenty-second victory of the season, defeating Butler University, 82-73.

​The win makes head coach Kevin Willard the winningest coach at Villanova (22-6, 13-4 Big East) in their first year with the program. Willard attributes that success to his players.

“These guys are a great group of guys to coach…they come in, work hard and have a great attitude,” Willard said. “I think that’s why this team is as good as we are. It’s our attitude.”

During the matchup, Junior Guard Tyler Perkins recorded his thousandth college career point, and freshman guard Acaden Lewis broke the program record for most assists by a freshman in a single season, achieving 146 season assists.

Lewis led the Wildcats, scoring 20 points. Redshirt sophomore guard Bryce Lindsay followed, scoring 19 points. Two other Wildcats had double-digit scoring performances, with graduate guard Devin Askew and junior guard Tyler Perkins scoring 16 points and 11 points, respectively.

​Senior forward Duke Brennan led the Wildcats against the glass, tallying 10 rebounds.

​Butler’s (15-14, 6-12 Big East) offense was led by graduate forward Ajayi Michael. At the end of the night, Michael totaled 17 points and 9 rebounds.

​The ‘Cats went 31-for-63 (49%) on field goal attempts, 10-for-32 (31%) on three pointers and 10-for-14 (71%) at the free throw line.

​In comparison, Butler went 24-for-53 (45%) on field goal attempts, 3-for-13 (23%) on three pointers and 22-for-27 (81%) at the free throw line.

​Following tip-off, Butler opened with five consecutive points to take a 5-0 lead.

​Villanova quickly responded, grabbing a 6-5 lead just over three minutes into the game.

​Midway through the first half, the ‘Cats found an 8-0 scoring run, the largest of the first half, stretching their lead to 21-13.

​With two and a half minutes remaining, Perkins scored his thousandth college career point. He now tallies 1,008 points over two years with the Wildcats and one year at Penn.

​During the half’s final minutes, Bryce Lindsay scored 5 of his 9 total first-half points, marking his best first-half scoring performance since his nine first-half points scored on Jan. 13, when the Wildcats defeated Marquette, 76-73.  

​The ‘Cats ended the first half with a 14-point lead, 42-28.

​Coming out of intermission, Butler scored 14 points in five minutes, narrowing the score down to a six-point game.

​With under nine minutes remaining, the Bulldogs trailed by one point, 55-54.

​“We aren’t coming out in second halves overly well,” Willard said. “Every team’s personality is different. With these guys, we watch film at halftime, and then I try to give them enough time, but sometimes you might have to give them more time.”

​Askew rallied the Wildcats’ offense, scoring two consecutive three-pointers separated by a free throw, to stretch Villanova to a ten-point advantage, 67-57.

​“I don’t ever feel like it’s a moment where I need to make sure I score,” Askew said, speaking about his scoring run. “I was just playing basketball. My teammates put me in a position where I was able to make plays.”

​In the game’s final minutes, Villanova maintained control, winning the game, 82-73.

​The Wildcats will now travel to New York, NY, taking on St. John’s University (22-6, 15-2 Big East) on Feb. 28. Tip-off at Madison Square Garden is set for 8:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on FOX. During the team’s Previous meeting, Villanova fell to St. John’s, 86-79. However, given St. John’s most recent 32-point loss to UConn, the game should be an interesting battle between the second (St. John’s) and third (Villanova)  teams in the Big East.