Villanova’s impact frosh Acaden Lewis presents challenge for DePaul
Kentucky's loss certainly has been Villanova's gain.
Freshman point guard Acaden Lewis committed to Kentucky early in his senior year, but decommitted in April in search of someplace new. That place happened to be at Villanova with new coach Kevin Williard, who recruited the Washington, D.C. native hard when he was still the boss at Maryland.
Lewis, who was listed as the nation's No. 33 prospect on the Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI), already has won the Big East's Freshman of the Week honor four times -- including the most recent award -- as Villanova (10-2, 1-0 Big East) welcomes visiting DePaul (8-5, 0-2) on Wednesday night.
The smooth lefty ranks second on the Wildcats in scoring (12.3 ppg) while leading the way in passing (5.0 apg) and steals (1.6 spg). He orchestrates an offense that features all five starters scoring in double figures.
"He's one of the nicest kids that there are, but he's a competitor. He wants to compete. He didn't play overly well at BYU. No one played well against Michigan," said Willard, referencing Villanova's only losses. "But he's a young man who's starting to find his groove, starting to find out what he needs to do defensively. He's got great vision, great handles."
Second-year DePaul coach Chris Holtmann has yet to find a blue-chipper quite on Lewis' level, but he likes the way his collective has improved. When UConn visited on Dec. 21, the Blue Demons held them to nine points in the first 10 minutes -- and DePaul only trailed by 10 with less than four minutes to go before falling 72-54.
"We've been able to have some really, really positive stretches of play here," Holtmann said. "We've got to be able to play better longer than we are able to do right now."
One area in particular where DePaul can improve: scoring in the paint. In their two Big East games so far, the Blue Demons went 6 for 20 on layups at St. John's and 6 for 19 versus UConn.
DePaul's big men are either shorter than the norm for league play (6-foot-8 senior starter NJ Benson) or less experienced (7-2 freshman Fabian Flores, who was expected to redshirt when the Spain native signed in September). Benson, a 65.9% shooter for the year, hit just 3 of 12 attempts against the Huskies.
"The shots at the rim, I think there were some really good ones that we just have to be able to finish through contact better," Holtmann said. "NJ's got to be able to finish at the rim better than what he did (against UConn) -- and we do across the board."