Villanova Wins 77 – 74 Against the Golden Eagles of Marquette
VILLANOVA, PA. 2/10/2026
Villanova found themselves behind by 9 points with just over six minutes to play. The Wildcats kept grinding away and regained the lead behind two free throws and a basket by Acaden Lewis to earn a 77 – 74 win over Marquette. But still it took a blocked shot by Tyler Perkins at the end to clinch the game for the home team.
“It’s February basketball,” said Villanova Coach Kevin Willard. “You’re going to have to grind and find ways to win. Watching Marquette’s last five games, Shaka (Smart) had done a great job with that group, especially on the defensive end. But we found a way.”
The Comeback
Marquette took a 66 -57 lead with 6:13 showing on the scoreboard on a three-pointer by Ben Gold. Then the three-ball started to fall for the Wildcats. Perkins drained consecutive shots from beyond the arc followed by another from distance by Matthew Hodge to even the score at 66 with 4:20 to play. The Golden Eagles got back to back three-pointers by Gold and Chase Ross around two missed free throws by Lewis. Then after a Perkins three, Lewis made two free throws and a layup at 1:39 to give his team a 73 – 72 lead.
“I just relaxed and shot them,” Lewis said about redeeming himself in a short period of time. “Tyler came up to me and was like you’re built for these moments. And they went in. So I appreciate him for picking me up because that’s not characteristic for me to do what I did. But he picked me up. My whole team picked me up and took care of business.”
The rest of the Nova points came from the foul line by Perkins and Devin Askew while Nigel James scored on a layup. Last possession by the Golden Eagles began with 11 seconds left. Adrien Stevens attempted a game-tying three from the right side but Perkins got up and blocked the shot to end the game.
“We’re resilient as a team,” said Perkins. “We don’t care. we go on runs if the other team goes on runs. That’s a forty minute game. When they went on their run, we knew we had to fight back. And that’s what we did.”
What the Numbers Say
Perkins led the Wildcats with 22 points and took down a team-best tying 8 rebounds while adding 3 assists. Lewis added 15 points and handed out a team-best 5 assists. Matthew Hodge scored 13 points while fellow forward Duke Brennan recorded 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Villanova won the rebound battle 36 – 32 and had a 17 – 5 edge on the offensive glass. That led to a 18 second chance points.
Villanova stole the ball 13 times, a season-best, led by Lewis and Askew who had 3 each.
The charity stripe continue to be a concern for the Cats who made 18 of 31 foul shots. The team came is now successful on 69% (322 of 467).
“We’ve worked on it,” said Willard. “Everyone is in there every day. It’s not like we’re not doing it. I think it’s a little bit mental right now. We miss one and it’s like we’ve got too much negative emotion. I’ve got to change that somehow. We’ll get there.”
Royce Parham was a force for Marquette scoring a game-high 26 points and pulling down a game-best 11 rebounds, a career-high in both. He made 8 of 9 field goal attempts and 9 of 10 free throws. Stevens had 18 points to tie his career-high.
Up Next
Villanova improves to 19 – 5, 10 – 3 in the Big East where the Wildcats are solidly in third place. They will take the court on Saturday at Creighton who is in fourth place with a 7 – 6 conference mark.
Marquette goes to Xavier the same day.
“It’s a win in February, I’ll take any win in February,” Willard said.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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