It has become a yearly ritual for college basketball programs to rehaul their entire rosters as thousands of players enter the transfer portal.
Villanova men’s basketball is coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance in four seasons, and there are only two Wildcats officially returning and one freshman signed from the 2026 recruiting class. Over a half dozen Wildcats are in the transfer portal, and one has already found a new home. Head coach Kevin Willard and his staff have already begun building a roster for the 2026-27 season.
Rising senior guard Tyler Perkins announced he was returning to Villanova for his final season. Perkins won the Big East Conference’s Most Improved Player of the Year award. He averaged 13.7 points per game, which matched his career high during his freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Tyler does a lot of things that impact winning,” Willard said on Perkins returning. “He did a great job of adjusting to what was a new style of play for him this past season and we’re excited to have him return as one of our leaders.”
Perkins will be a mainstay in Villanova’s starting five and will be a key leader.
The only other Wildcat to announce their return was rising redshirt sophomore Matt Hodge. While he tore his ACL in a late-February game against St. John’s, two months later, Hodge is already off crutches in his path to return to the court sometime early next season.
“I think everyone saw how valuable Matt was to our team this past season when we lost him,” Willard said on Hodge’s return. “We really missed him and can’t wait to see him back on the floor fully recovered.”
With Villanova’s portal additions and Hodge’s injury, he might start the season off the bench and get limited minutes.
It is currently expected that Malachi Palmer and Chris Jeffrey will also return to Villanova next season, but official announcements have yet to be made.
In the transfer portal so far, Villanova has landed two transfers, with seemingly more on the way. Oregon transfer forward Kwame Evans Jr. and Ohio State transfer forward Devin Royal both announced their commitments to Villanova on Monday, April 13.
Evans Jr., 6-foot-9, joins Villanova after spending three seasons at Oregon. He averaged 13.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game during last season. Evans was a top-20 prospect in the 2023 recruiting class and was a potential NBA lottery pick after his freshman year.
Royal averaged 13.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists at Ohio State last season. He has spent his entire collegiate career at Ohio State, starting in 59 games while averaging 10.6 points and 4.9 rebounds. He averaged 13.7 points per game in both his junior and sophomore seasons. Royal totaled 96 appearances as a Buckeye. During his time at Ohio State, he transitioned from a power forward to a small forward.
The two pickups are a much-needed fit for Willard’s team, which lacked size and physicality last season, especially against top-25 teams.
While Villanova was able to land two recruits in the transfer portal so far, freshman starting guard Acaden Lewis and redshirt sophomore starting guard Bryce Lindsay had entered the transfer portal on Sunday, April 5. Lewis, a four-star recruit out of high school, was Villanova’s primary ballhandler as a freshman.
Lewis committed to Miami on Tuesday after averaging 12.2 points along with a team-high 5.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game. He was named to the All-Big East Second Team and was runner-up for Big East Freshman of the Year. He set two freshman program records for assists (176) and steals (63).
Lindsay recently had a Zoom interview with USC on April 8 as he looks for a new program. He had a successful start to his time at Villanova, averaging 16.9 points and 44.7% from beyond the arc in his first 14 games. However, through conference play, he fell to 7.9 points per game.
Other transfer portal entries include Braden Pierce, Nico Onyekwere and Zion Stanford. Pierce was a backup center to Brennan, who followed Willard from Maryland. He averaged 1.2 points and 0.9 rebounds. Onyekwere redshirted and Stanford departed the program in March.
Willard and staff still have to address how they will staff their starting guard slots. Villanova hosted Arkansas transfer guard DJ Wagner on Tuesday, April 14.
The program plans to host Cornell transfer forward Jake Fiegen for a visit. Fiegen is deciding between Villanova, Northwestern, Virginia and Vanderbilt. He will make his final decision after he visits Villanova.
The transfer portal opened on Tuesday, April 7, and will close on Tuesday, April 21. Players in the transfer portal do not have to choose a team before the April 21 deadline.
