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  • Villanova still fighting for their first win at home this season after losing a thriller to Morgan State

    Villanova still fighting for their first win at home this season after losing a thriller to Morgan State

    Villanova football might be running out of time.

    In a game where Villanova was favored to win by two or more possessions, it traded scores with Morgan State all the way until the final seconds of regulation. With 2 seconds left, Villanova sophomore kicker Dom LeBlanc attempted a 47-yard field goal to force overtime. However, LeBlanc missed just his second attempt of the season, and Villanova fell to Morgan State, 38-35.

    The loss marked the Wildcats’ fourth consecutive home defeat.

    Villanova (2-4) has yet to win consecutive games this season and has not won inside Villanova Stadium since last November.

    Isaiah Ragland had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable to become a leader at Villanova

    “Yeah, I mean, just trying to give us a chance to tie the game,” graduate quarterback Pat McQuaide said on the last drive. “We have a ton of confidence in our kicker. I mean, he’s been great all year, and we still have a ton of confidence in him. I mean, the goal was to get an opportunity to tie the game and go to overtime. Or if there was an opportunity, to score a touchdown. Obviously, you want to do that. Like I said, he’s still our guy, and I’ll still take him 10 times out of 10.”

    Morgan State Bears wide receiver Justin Perry runs on one of his five receptions in the win over the Wildcats. Isaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer

    McQuaide completed 22-of-28 pass attempts for 266 yards, marking the most passing yards the fifth-year QB has had since the season opener against William & Mary. McQuaide also threw an interception after a pass breakup tipped the ball into the air, into the hands of Morgan State (4-1).

    Morgan State quarterback Cameron Edge completed 31-of-41 passes for 444 yards and three touchdowns. His longest pass of the day was for 79 yards.

    Villanova mascot Will D. Cat inks NIL deal with Friskies. No, seriously.

    Villanova’s dual-headed backfield

    Villanova’s running back duo of Ja’briel Mace and Isaiah Ragland combined for five touchdowns and 182 yards on the ground.

    Mace rushed for 105 yards, which marked the first 100-plus-yard game from a Wildcat this season.

    “Ja’briel and [Ragland] are unbelievable,” McQuaide said. “The guys in front did a great job. The offensive linemen with tight ends. Even the receivers, getting in there and blocking. Those guys do a great job every week. And Rags and Ja’briel are great players. And I’ve said this before, but they don’t do what they do without those guys in front of them. So you’ve got to give credit to everybody. It’s not just those two.”

    Villanova running back Ja’briel Mace runs the ball during the third quarter against Morgan State on Saturday.Isaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer

    Defense has its ‘highs and lows’

    Villanova sophomore defensive back Jamie Tyson intercepted Edge in the end zone on fourth-and-7 with 2:45 left to play. At the time, Villanova led, 35-31.

    The Wildcats were in position to win with a two-possession, while uncomfortable, lead.

    Tyson’s interception came after Villanova’s defense allowed Morgan State to convert big, chunk yardage plays. The Bears had nine plays of 15 or more yards, with three of them being larger than 45 yards.

    Villanova running back Isaiah Ragland (center) fights for yardage against a group of Morgan State defenders on Saturday.Isaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer

    In comparison, Villanova only had four plays that were greater than 15-plus yards.

    Morgan State would score the eventual game-winning touchdown on a six-play, 56-yard drive, which took just 1:15 off the clock..

    “We weren’t consistent today,” Omari Bursey said. The redshirt sophomore linebacker led Villanova with nine total tackles (seven solo), one sack, one quarterback hit, and one tackle for a loss. “We had some great highs, but we had a good amount of lows too. So it’s kind of just, we got to stay steady.”

    Up next

    Villanova now has a bye week before returning to Patriot League play on the road against Fordham (1-5, 1-2 Patriot League) on Saturday, Oct. 17 (3:30 p.m., ESPN+).

    “Yeah, we’ll see how our guys respond,” Ferrante said when asked about the upcoming week off. “I mean, they’re still in class next week, so it’s not like they have a week ‘off.’ And then we have an extra week to prepare for the next opponent, which is Fordham. So we’ll clean this up tomorrow, just like we do on every Sunday.”

    The last time the two programs faced off was in 2015. Villanova defeated Fordham, 14-7, on the road in the Bronx. The Wildcats are 3-1 all-time against the Rams.

  • Penn drops Ivy League opener to Dartmouth in coach Rick Santos’ return to New Hampshire

    Penn drops Ivy League opener to Dartmouth in coach Rick Santos’ return to New Hampshire

    Penn lost, 14-10, to Dartmouth following a fourth-quarter flurry on Saturday in the Ivy League opener for both teams in Hanover, N.H.

    For three quarters, it was a defensive battle. Dartmouth took a 7-3 lead into the fourth quarter before the Quakers put together a 16-play, 80-yard drive capped by senior running back Sean Williams Jr.’s 1-yard touchdown run to go up 10-7. The lead was short-lived, however, as Dartmouth responded with an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to regain the lead.

    Penn battled back with a 12-play, 59-yard drive that ended with an incomplete pass on fourth down from the Dartmouth 16-yard line with 1 minute, 20 seconds left. After both teams used timeouts on Dartmouth’s ensuing three-and-out, the Quakers got the ball back at their own 46 with 9 seconds left. But an incompletion and a sack of Penn freshman quarterback Miles Teodecki sealed Dartmouth’s first win of the season (1-2).

    Penn quarterback Miles Teodecki, seen here in a game against Lehigh, recorded 214 passing yards in his first career Ivy League game.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Figuring it out

    Penn head coach Rick Santos stressed the importance of first- and second-down efficiency entering Saturday’s game, but the first quarter looked like a repeat of last week’s loss for Penn’s offense. The Quakers (1-2) punted on both of their drives and struggled to sustain offensive momentum while Dartmouth scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Grayson Saunier to Ky’Dric Fisher. Saunier threw for 173 yards on 13-of-15 passing.

    But Penn’s offense woke up in the second quarter. The Quakers put themselves in field-goal range twice and converted one, a 26-yarder to cap a 10-play, 71-yard drive. Meanwhile, they held the Big Green to just 59 yards in the quarter.

    Teodecki looked more comfortable this week and flashed the dual-threat abilities he impressed fans with against Bucknell. He was Penn’s leading rusher with 54 yards, and completed 27 of 39 passes for 214 yards on Saturday compared to 133 last week against Lehigh.

    The quarterback also started to find his passing rhythm with a fellow freshman, wide receiver Mason Page. Page had eight receptions for a game-high 64 yards, including a 19-yard pass from Teodecki.

    First-year Penn coach Rick Santos made major starting quarterback decision before season begins

    Fourth-quarter flurry

    Dartmouth missed a trio of field-goal attempts in the second and third quarters, and, while Penn’s field goal put them on the board, untimely penalties erased the potential for more.

    But the Quakers finally got an edge on their opening drive of the fourth quarter, when Williams’ 1-yard touchdown run gave them their first lead of the day.

    But Dartmouth responded quickly, gaining 75 yards on eight plays and scoring a rushing touchdown of their own via a 2-yard run by Myles Craddock, whom Santos pointed out as a player Penn’s defense needed to watch.

    Though Craddock scored the winning touchdown for the Big Green, the Quakers held him to 85 rushing yards. He put up 140 yards in Dartmouth’s previous game against Monmouth.

    Up next

    Penn returns to Franklin Field to face nonconference opponent Howard (2-3) next Saturday (1 p.m., ESPN+).

  • Northwestern runs freely over Penn State, which remains winless in Big Ten play

    Northwestern runs freely over Penn State, which remains winless in Big Ten play

    EVANSTON, Ill. — That’s one way to open an $875 million stadium.

    Northwestern’s first game in its new Ryan Field couldn’t have gone much better, as it beat Penn State, 34-13, thanks to incredible performances from running backs Joseph Himon II and Caleb Komolafe.

    The Nittany Lions’ run game recorded just 48 yards, and quarterback Rocco Becht struggled against another Big Ten opponent. The Wildcats have now beaten Penn State in back-to-back seasons.

    “I want to give Northwestern a ton of credit because they played the game, the style of game, that obviously we would like to play,” coach Matt Campbell said. “They really beat us where it was really hard to find the rhythm on both sides of the football. They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”

    Running amok

    After Penn State (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten) found some momentum and got on the board — on an 8-yard touchdown run by Carson Hansen with 10 minutes, 39 seconds left in the second quarter to cut Penn State’s deficit to 10-7 — Northwestern’s first play on its next drive was a 36-yard rush. Two plays later, the Wildcats (3-1, 1-1) scored on a 38-yard rushing touchdown by Himon.

    At one point, Himon was averaging 30.7 yards per carry, and, by the end, Northwestern averaged 7.5 yards per attempt.

    Part of that rushing success was because of ineffective tackling by the Nittany Lions — notably linebacker Kooper Ebel, who had multiple missed tackles that allowed the Wildcats to get past the first-down marker.

    “There were a lot of missed tackles [Friday night], and however that happened and why that happened, we’re going to have to evaluate and have a better answer as we come back next week,” Campbell said. “I think that the thing from my end of it is that part is frustrating because we tackled really well in the first four games of the season.”

    Additionally, Northwestern had nine runs of 15-plus yards and finished with 413 rushing yards after recording just 32 against Indiana last weekend.

    On top of all the yardage, all four of Northwestern’s touchdowns came on the ground. Quarterback Aidan Chiles had one, a 2-yard run in the first quarter, while Himon and Komolafe scored the other three in the second and third.

    Komolafe had 188 rushing yards and a touchdown on 25 carries, while Himon finished with 10 carries for 162 yards and two scores.

    Northwestern running back Joseph Himon II (6) recorded 162 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns.Melissa Tamez

    Becht’s struggles continue

    Becht had his best start to a season during Penn State’s first three games. But like the Big Ten opener against Wisconsin, the Iowa State transfer looked like a shell of himself against Northwestern.

    The senior had multiple throws behind the sticks on third downs and some questionable keepers en route to 224 passing yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.

    In two Big Ten games this year, Becht has one passing touchdown after having nine in during the nonconference slate. He has had multiple passes get deflected or tipped in both those games, two of which have led to interceptions.

    “He’s played Iowa for three years straight, so the Big Ten is not a problem,” wide receiver Chase Sowell said. “I know what he’s capable of, and I know how much he cares about us, and I know how much he cares about this place.”

    Penn State held players-only meeting to get ‘on the same page’ after its loss to Wisconsin

    With his team down, 31-7 in the fourth quarter, Becht connected with Sowell on a 16-yard touchdown, but he also missed multiple big opportunities. That includes when he overthrew a likely touchdown to Zay Robinson and didn’t see a wide-open Sowell in the second quarter and later threw it over tight end Andrew Rappleyea’s head on a third down. Sowell was the Nittany Lions’ leading receiver with five catches for 68 yards.

    Up next

    Penn State returns home for its annual White Out game seeking its first conference win of the season. The Nittany Lions will face Southern Cal on Oct. 10 (7:30 p.m., NBC10).

  • Isaiah Ragland had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable to become a leader at Villanova

    Isaiah Ragland had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable to become a leader at Villanova

    Isaiah Ragland has seen Villanova reach success during the junior’s first two seasons as a Wildcat, including last year’s run to the FCS semifinals.

    This year has gotten off to a rocky start, as Villanova has fallen to 2-3 and 1-2 in the Patriot League, while also leading the conference in total penalties and penalty yards per game.

    However, for Ragland, there is no lack of drive to turn things around as Villanova prepares for another nonconference matchup, against Morgan State on Saturday (1 p.m., ESPN+), before entering a bye week.

    “We’re definitely hungry,” Ragland said. “As a team, we know it’s not the outcomes that we’ve wanted. But, it definitely has made us more hungry and made us more focused on the goals that we do have, not only for the future but right now — focus on the now.”

    Omari Bursey is the latest in a long line of great Villanova linebackers: ‘The thing that separates him is his intelligence’

    A bright spot for Villanova has been its backfield tandem of Ragland and Ja’briel Mace. A season ago, both were part of a running back by committee system, with David Avit and Isaiah Wright also getting carries. After Wright graduated and Avit transferred to Arizona State, it’s been the two juniors splitting the carries.

    And the early results have been promising. They’ve combined for 555 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, with Ragland scoring three of the five.

    “It’s been really good, because me and him feed off each other and we feed off the [offensive] line because we only go as far as [they] take us,” Ragland said. “We have a great line, great coaches, staff and our coaches push us and I like to push our line and they like to push us. I think it’s a great compliment to just feed off each other.”

    Ragland was elected as captain by his teammates for the first time. For head coach Mark Ferrante, he has always trusted Ragland and has seen his growth on the field.

    Villanova running back Isaiah Ragland has scored three touchdowns and rushed for 269 yards.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    “He’s trying to lead,” Ferrante said. “Once [you’ve] been elected captain, you have a little added burden to your habits and practice in your communication with team members. … He does a really good job behind the scenes, he does a really good job communicating with the guys.”

    Ragland admitted he was hesitant about speaking up in the past, but has learned with additional responsibility he needed to operate outside of his comfort zone.

    “I’ve definitely been more of a lead by example type of guy, but I know if this team needs [it], you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and something I was uncomfortable with in the past has been talking more,” Ragland said. “I’ve definitely tried to step into that role a bit more and I think it’s definitely helping us for sure.”

    But besides Villanova’s backfield, the Wildcats have struggled through the first five games. They allowed six sacks against Colgate. Quarterback Pat McQuaide has thrown five total interceptions, and the Wildcats have committed 44 total penalties.

    Ferrante called Villanova its “own worst enemy” after last Saturday’s loss to Colgate. The Wildcats haven’t found their footing yet as they did last season.

    “We got to keep working, keep grinding, keep tapping the rock as we like to say and hopefully, the rock will crack and we’ll get the results that we’re working towards and aiming for,” Ferrante said. “But right now, we haven’t done it consistently enough for four quarters.”

    After experiencing successful seasons as an underclassman, the page has flipped for Ragland to be the guy to look up to.

    “Just having the mindset to go 1-0, focus on that,” Ragland said. “Every game is not going to be an easy game. You got to respect every opponent you go against because it’s going to be a dogfight every time you go out there, but just having a ‘go 1-0′ mindset, think it’ll definitely help you.”

  • For separate reasons, Saturday offers a fresh start for Penn coach Rick Santos and freshman QB Miles Teodecki

    For separate reasons, Saturday offers a fresh start for Penn coach Rick Santos and freshman QB Miles Teodecki

    Three days after a loss to No. 7 Lehigh in Penn’s home opener, freshman quarterback Miles Teodecki celebrated his 18th birthday.

    Teodecki’s performance was one he would rather forget, throwing two interceptions and being sacked four times.

    Quakers head coach Rick Santos put it in perspective.

    “The game moved fast for him,” Santos said, “And the quickest way for you to get sped up is to get hit in the mouth and get sacked a couple times, and the ball’s going to come out of your hand a lot quicker than the next time. I promise you that.”

    Though he sees room for improvement, Santos also knows that Teodecki only has two games under his belt — and just turned 18.

    Penn head coach Rick Santos said that Teodecki’s maturity is one of his best assets in being able to learn from his mistakes. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    “He’s young, but he’s extremely emotionally mature for his age,” Santos said. “And I think, in a game where the elements were such, it was gust[s] of 40 or 50 [mph], it was raining half the game, we were forced to throw the ball almost the entire second half. So there was way too much pressure that was put on a freshman quarterback’s shoulders.”

    Santos, who has “all the guys’ birthdays in [his] calendar,” made the team sing happy birthday to Teodecki, who gave a “pump-up speech” before practice.

    First-year Penn coach Rick Santos makes major starting quarterback decision before season begins

    His speech “wasn’t a movie ‘rah rah’ speech,” according to Santos, but straightforward: “Let’s be extremely competitive today and let’s go at it.”

    For Teodecki, it wasn’t about turning 18. It was about football.

    Committed to the cause

    Finding players who are committed to the game and to staying for all four years is what drew Santos to coaching in the Ivy League, and at Penn. The former University of New Hampshire head coach wanted the “ability to retain a lot of our rosters and really build a sustained culture here.”

    Now, Santos will return to the Granite State as Penn (1-1) opens conference play against Dartmouth (0-2) on Saturday (1:30 p.m., ESPN+).

    “I’m not going to lie, there’s a lot of nostalgia heading back up,” he said. “A lot of emotions.”

    Santos (center) leads Penn now, but regrets not being able to bid farewell to his team at his former stop with the University of New Hampshire.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Unable to tell his New Hampshire team in person his decision to leave for Penn, Santos had a Zoom meeting planned, but the decision broke the night before.

    “That did not sit well with me, kind of how I left there,” he said. “So all those things are kind of playing over my head, but really it’s just the joy and the gratitude for my time at UNH.”

    Ivy Madness is coming to the PPL Center in Allentown starting in 2028

    While Santos appreciates Penn’s academic emphasis, he likes that his players take their sport seriously, too.

    “I just love the fact that they’re so well-rounded,” he said of Penn’s players, noting the smaller senior class this year. Santos says he looks for guys who will stay all four years, who are “a football player first who happens to be smart enough to get into a place like UPenn and not the other way around.”

    A strategic approach

    Slowing down the game for Teodecki seems to be a focus for Santos and his staff. They decreased the number of first- and second-down plays, choosing instead to increase the number of times they elect to run the football on a single play so that “he can get every single defensive look that he might see.”

    That patience and ability to see the game will be critical against Dartmouth.

    “If you force the ball into coverage against this team, they’re going to beat you every single time,” Santos said. “So it’s a great opportunity for Miles and our offense to be patient, to be really efficient.”

    Sammy McCorkle, Dartmouth’s head coach, is “defensive-minded, special-teams minded as well,” Santos said, adding: “They win on those two fronts.”

    Noting Dartmouth running back Myles Craddock as a player to watch, Santos said that “he’s got long speed, he’s tough, he’s physical.

    “They make you work the ball down the field … they do not want the ball to get behind their corners and their safeties.”

    Santos hopes to build an offensive line that will improve the run game and a special teams unit that will place the offense and defense in prime positions on the field. So far, the defense has been the Quakers’ strength.

    Now, he is looking to help the offense find its flow.

    “The identity needs to fall on the shoulders of our offensive line and our running backs, and be efficient in terms of our running game,” he said.

    Follow the Inquirer’s complete coverage of Penn athletics right here!
  • Kevin Willard believes his new-look Villanova team has closed the gap between the Wildcats and Big East powers

    Kevin Willard believes his new-look Villanova team has closed the gap between the Wildcats and Big East powers

    NEW YORK — The first thing worth mentioning is that most of the hoopla and prognosticating going on Thursday morning at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square is rather meaningless. The transactional nature of college sports — Villanova’s men’s team, for example, has two returning players — has made it so that trying to predict an order of teams, and which players will fill out the all-conference teams, is like throwing darts with one eye closed after several pints.

    Kevin Willard at one point responded to a reporter who asked about scouting other teams that he had “no idea who is on anyone’s roster.” Surely he knows a few, but the sentiment was an honest one. Villanova won’t play a Big East game until Dec. 19, and Willard has to continue getting his new-look team ready for the start of its 12-game nonconference slate.

    But where Villanova landed in the preseason coaches poll was fitting. The Wildcats are third, right where they finished last season, behind the 1-2 punch of Connecticut and St. John’s at the top of the Big East. Villanova went 15-5 in the conference last season, Willard’s first campaign as Villanova coach. St. John’s was 18-2 and UConn was 17-3. There was a clear top tier, a clear No. 3 in Villanova, and then the rest of the pack started with fourth-place Seton Hall at 10-10.

    Willard took the data from last season and went to work in the offseason. The Wildcats lost just about every time they matched up with NCAA Tournament-quality teams. Blown out and beaten up at Michigan. Bullied twice by St. John’s. Beaten twice by UConn, which went to the Final Four. Not composed enough down the stretch in a tournament loss to Utah State. The offseason rebuild had a clear goal: Get bigger, more physical, more experienced.

    Villanova guard Tyler Perkins was the team’s leading scorer last season.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Leading scorer Tyler Perkins is back, as is forward Matt Hodge, who is recovering from an ACL surgery. But the Wildcats are likely to roll out a five-man starting lineup one month from Thursday in Rome against Notre Dame with four newcomers. They include 7-foot-3 center Luigi Suigo, a 19-year-old freshman from Italy projected to be selected in the first round of next year’s NBA draft. Next to Suigo in the front court are two seniors who played three seasons of Big Ten basketball prior to transferring to Villanova in 6-10 power forward Kwame Evans Jr. (Oregon) and 6-6 forward Devin Royal (Ohio State). Junior Illinois-Chicago transfer Elijah Crawford is projected to start at point guard next to Perkins.

    The bench has two senior guards in Jake Fiegen (Cornell), a sharpshooter, and a smaller scorer in Buddy Simmons (St. Bonaventure), who scored 16.4 points per game last season. Hodge will be a 22-year-old redshirt sophomore whose shooting prowess will be useful as soon as he’s ready to return from surgery. Freshman Adam Oumiddoch, a 6-5 guard, also will get minutes and contribute. Willard may play as many as 11 guys after finishing last season with an eight-man rotation that sometimes was more like seven. That final rotation had two freshmen, two sophomores, and a redshirt sophomore.

    Villanova men picked third, women second in preseason Big East polls

    This team, by contrast, will start a junior, three seniors, and a freshman lottery pick, while the top of its bench rotation has two seniors and a 22-year-old redshirt sophomore.

    Willard was open about what separated his roster from the better ones last season and what he had to do to rectify that.

    So, gap closed?

    “Absolutely,” he said Thursday. “I think in practice, if you come watch practice, the level of physicality, it’s almost a little bit too much. I haven’t practiced longer than 90 minutes so far. Just the experience we have, the games that these guys have played in, they understand what high-level basketball is all about.

    “I think one of the issues last year was we were so young at times we just didn’t understand the physicality we were going to have to play. Last year’s group played with unbelievable heart and passion. It’s why we won so many games. It just wasn’t old enough and physical enough to be able to understand what you have to do to win at a little bit higher level.”

    Kevin Willard with forward Devin Royal during an open practice on July 27.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    There’s a different understanding with this group.

    “We already know the expectations that come with coming to Nova and what we have to bring every night,” said Evans, who has shed the walking boot he wore on his left leg during the team’s Summer Jam open practice in July.

    Those physical practices and the different bodies Villanova has in the rotation are certainly noticeable to Perkins, who is back to full basketball activities after right shoulder surgery.

    “It’s definitely an adjustment,” Perkins said. “This year when I drive the paint I got 7-3 Luigi Suigo and 7-1 Nico [Onyekwere, a reserve center]. It’s not every time you can get a layup. Shooting over them has also been something I’ve been noticing.”

    Kevin Willard accomplished most of his goals in Villanova’s roster rebuild. Then came Luigi Suigo.

    A new roster with a new makeup also means the coach has changed his approach.

    “It’s two total polar opposites,” Willard said when asked if his coaching style changes this year. “Last year’s team was really fun to coach because you had to do so much coaching and teaching. So from that standpoint it was really fun. This team is a lot of fun because they know what they’re doing.

    “From that standpoint it’s a lot of fun because we kind of let them be who they are and the team can kind of evolve around their personalities instead of mine.”

    What the personality of this team ends up being remains to be seen. The Wildcats begin a three-game exhibition slate on Oct. 11 at Rutgers and then open their season Nov. 1 in Italy. They have a measuring stick game on Nov. 21 vs. Michigan in South Philly and play at Kansas on Black Friday.

    Are they ready for UConn and St. John’s? Are they ready to be back in the conversation at the top of a conference Jay Wright once lorded over?

    Perkins had a pretty simple answer for what proving that looks like.

    “Just winning games,” he said. “That’s what it takes, to win games.”

  • Villanova men picked third, women second in preseason Big East polls; several players make all-conference team

    Villanova men picked third, women second in preseason Big East polls; several players make all-conference team

    NEW YORK — The finishing point from the end of last season is where the Villanova men’s basketball team starts — at least on paper — to begin the 2026-27 basketball season.

    The Wildcats landed as expected in the third spot behind Connecticut and St. John’s in the preseason Big East coaches poll announced Thursday morning in New York at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.

    St. John’s went 18-2 in Big East play last season, UConn went 17-3, and third-place Villanova was 15-5. Fourth-place Seton Hall, meanwhile, was 10-10. Villanova’s offseason was spent reloading a roster in the hopes that the Wildcats, who reached the NCAA Tournament in Kevin Willard’s first season, close the gap between themselves and the top two teams in the conference.

    Villanova coach Kevin Willard with forward Devin Royal during an open practice on July 27.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    The roster looks a lot different. Only two players returned, including senior Tyler Perkins, who was selected preseason first-team all-conference. Matthew Hodge, the other returning player, is recovering from ACL surgery.

    Villanova will begin its season in Rome vs. Notre Dame on Nov. 1. Its new-look starting lineup is projected to feature Perkins and four new players: point guard Elijah Crawford, forwards Kwame Evans Jr. and Devin Royal, and Italian big man Luigi Suigo, a 7-foot-3 center who is projected to be a first-round pick in next year’s NBA draft. Evans and Royal were both named to the all-Big East second team announced Thursday.

    Big man Luigi Suigo has arrived at Villanova. His journey to the 2027 NBA draft is underway.

    UConn received eight first-place votes while St. John’s received two and Marquette got one. Coaches cannot vote for their own team.

    Wildcats women picked second

    Like the men, Denise Dillon’s Villanova women’s team also is where it was at the end of last season: staring up at powerhouse UConn from the No. 2 spot.

    The Wildcats received one first-place vote, which had to be from UConn coach Geno Auriemma, considering the rest of the first-place votes went to the Huskies.

    Villanova had its fifth consecutive 20-win season last year. The Wildcats finished 25-8 and 16-4 in Big East play. They reached the NCAA Tournament and lost a first-round game to Texas Tech.

    Villanova star Jasmine Bascoe represents home nation on global stage: ‘What more could you ask for?’
    Villanova’s Jasmine Bascoe averaged 18.9 points and 4.0 rebounds last season.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Leading scorer Jasmine Bascoe, a junior guard, is back after averaging 18.9 points and 4.0 rebounds. She was a unanimous first-team all-conference player last season and landed on this year’s preseason all-Big East team alongside sophomore guard Kennedy Henry.

    The full men’s and women’s preseason polls are below:

    (Points in parentheses)

    Men

    • UConn (98)
    • St. John’s (90)
    • Villanova (81)
    • Marquette (73)
    • Providence (59)
    • Xavier (54)
    • Creighton (47)
    • DePaul (32)
    • Seton Hall (31)
    • Georgetown (27)
    • Butler (13)

    Women

    • UConn (100)
    • Villanova (90)
    • Creighton (78)
    • St. John’s (68)
    • Seton Hall (67)
    • Marquette (60)
    • Providence (38)
    • Georgetown (36)
    • Xavier (29)
    • Butler (21)
    • DePaul (18)
  • Penn State held players-only meeting to get ‘on the same page’ after its loss to Wisconsin

    Penn State held players-only meeting to get ‘on the same page’ after its loss to Wisconsin

    Penn State coach Matt Campbell and his senior leaders knew they needed to do something after losing to Wisconsin to get the team on the same page.

    The solution? A players-only meeting on Monday. No coaches — just teammates hearing each other out and bonding in the face of adversity.

    “Having those player meetings is huge for us because it does bring us closer together,” quarterback Rocco Becht said on Tuesday. “It does [help us] find out about one another, and we just got to continue the grind and move on.”

    Becht is one of the key leaders for Penn State, as the redshirt senior has been named a captain for each game this season. He rallied the team together at Temple, and took accountability in the locker room after the loss to Wisconsin.

    Penn State made head-scratching decisions in its first loss. It also exposed glaring weaknesses.

    So it’s no surprise Becht was one of the players to speak during the meeting.

    “He played a big role,” offensive lineman Trevor Buhr said. “I think overall, we were just kind of making sure we were all on the same page, kind of going over what we had to do, what our goals are getting ready for this week, just making sure everyone’s on the same page.”

    Becht said they don’t have regularly scheduled player meetings, but it’s also not the first time the team has met separately. These gatherings come around when the Nittany Lions “feel like it needs to happen,” according to Becht.

    But being on the same page means something different to everyone. For defensive tackle Keanu Williams, it means understanding how everyone is feeling, not necessarily having the whole team agreeing on one idea.

    Penn State running back James Peoples said the team “can’t get stuck in the past.”Craig Houtz / For The Inquirer

    “It comes into play in the sense of whatever the problems we’re having, lay it on the table, and we all kind of got to sit here and just talk it out,” Williams said. “Whatever it is we need to talk out, whatever problems we’re having, we need to sit there and be on the same page with that. That’s what I really mean by getting on the same page.”

    The players meeting is one example of how Penn State has made an effort as a team to move past the unexpected loss. Running back James Peoples said in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s collapse, everyone handled it differently.

    “You don’t want that, what happened last Saturday,” Peoples said. “You don’t want that outcome, but we understand there’s still a lot more ahead of us. So you got to be looking down the line and seeing what you got in front of you to understand, ‘OK, we can’t get stuck in the past.’”

    No. 13 Penn State fumbles a 10-point second-half lead to lose to Wisconsin in Big Ten opener

    Starting right tackle Anthony Donkoh, a Penn State returnee, knows what it feels like to have a loss that snowballs into more after last year’s collapse. He doesn’t want that happening this year, but he feels confident moving forward because of how the players have rebounded emotionally.

    “I feel like a lot of the guys handled it well this time around,” Donkoh said. “I feel like there’s a lot more emotions last year, and you just felt like a big negative shift, like after a game sometimes.

    “But then like after this loss, everybody is still in good spirits. Like we know that we still have a lot of the season ahead of us. We know that if we just keep our head down and keep working every day, then we’re able to get ourselves out of the situation that we’re in.”

  • Temple hosting Big East field hockey tournament adds ‘a little fire’ to Michelle Vittese’s team

    Temple hosting Big East field hockey tournament adds ‘a little fire’ to Michelle Vittese’s team

    The Big East field hockey tournament will come to Temple Sports Complex in November, but whether Temple will be playing in it remains up to the Owls.

    After narrowly missing the four-team field last season, Temple entered this fall knowing exactly where it wanted to be by November. Entering Friday’s matchup against Delaware, the Owls are 5-4 and 1-1 in conference play.

    For coach Michelle Vittese, having the conference tournament on Temple’s home field has made the pursuit of reaching the postseason difficult to ignore.

    “Definitely a little fire, definitely a little bit of anxiety,” Vittese said. “There’s a pressure element to that.”

    How Michelle Vittese turned Temple field hockey into a Big East tournament contender | From 2025

    Vittese has tried to keep that pressure from becoming the Owls’ focus. Rather than measuring each result against whether Temple will qualify in November, she wants her team focused on improving enough to prove it belongs there.

    “It’s about, can we provide an experience?” Vittese said. “Can we get to a place at which we hopefully prove that we deserve to be in?”

    Temple recently won three straight games, which included a victory over Georgetown in its Big East opener, before Villanova ended the Owls’ streak on Sept. 25. The Owls sit fourth in the Big East standings.

    Vittese said her team is still searching for consistency, which has led her staff to tinker with the Owls’ approach. Temple has shifted players between the forward and midfield line, altered its defensive penalty-corner setup, and emphasized increasing its work rate.

    Michelle Vittese wants her team to “focus on ourselves” rather than standings or results in the Big East.Charles Fox / Staff Photographer

    Some of those changes came after Temple allowed Lafayette to score on three of its five penalty corners in a 4-3 loss on Sept. 4.

    “We were constantly making adjustments every day,” Vittese said. “Every practice, every day, depending on the opposition, we [were] also make in-game adjustments based on what we’re seeing.”

    Temple has also changed how it measures effort. The Owls previously reviewed data from their GPS tracking system after games, but the coaching staff has begun using the system during training to receive immediate feedback on players’ work rates.

    “It’s a real-time information feedback system,” Vittese said. “It’s a lie detector. Like, are you working hard or are you not? And so you can say you are, but the numbers really tell a story.”

    Temple’s Alex Lepore emerges as a top goalie in the Big East | From 2025

    Goalkeeper Alex Lepore sees another area that needs improvement: how the Owls start games.

    Lepore said Temple has often played its best field hockey after halftime.

    “We’re very much a third-quarter, second-half team, which is great,” Lepore said. “We get back for the game, but we really need just to come out a little stronger, set the tone, and set the pace of the game early on.”

    Vittese has emphasized the importance of connection and trust in practice, including how players react when a teammate makes a mistake. After noticing an instance when a struggling player received little encouragement during a game, Vittese challenged the Owls to become more deliberate about picking each other up.

    “How relentlessly positive and empowering of our own teammates can we be?” Vittese said. “That’s actually been a practice point.”

    Temple finished 3-4 in Big East play last season, the same conference record as Villanova, but the Wildcats claimed the fourth and final tournament spot.

    Last year’s results have only motivated the Owls in 2026, says sophomore midfielder Lucia Magro.

    “We always can do better,” Magrobut. “But we’re [feeling] really confident.”

    Temple still has five Big East games remaining, including matchups against UConn, which is first in the conference’s standings, Old Dominion, and defending conference champion Liberty, before the tournament arrives at its home field.

    And Vittese does not want her players consumed with where they could be in November.

    “Thinking about anything other than what we can do excellently to be successful is a waste of time,” Vittese said. “We need to focus on ourselves.”

  • Temple releases 2026-27 conference schedules for women’s and men’s basketball

    Temple releases 2026-27 conference schedules for women’s and men’s basketball

    Temple’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will open American play on Dec. 30, with the men traveling to Rice and the women hosting Charlotte, as part of the Owls’ 18- game conference slate announced Wednesday.

    Both programs will face six conference opponents twice, with three at home and three on the road. The Owls’ men’s and women’s teams each finished 8-10 in the American last season.

    The American men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be held in Tampa in March. Game times and broadcast information for Temple’s conference schedules will be announced at a later date.

    Temple men’s and women’s basketball teams release nonconference schedules

    Men’s schedule

    The men will play their first two conference games at home against UTSA on Jan. 2 and UAB on Jan. 5. Temple will also host each of the American’s top three finishers from last season — South Florida, Wichita State and Tulsa — with defending regular-season and tournament champion South Florida visiting the Liacouras Center on Jan. 14.

    Temple handed South Florida one of its three conference losses last season, beating the Bulls, 79-78, at the Liacouras Center on a Mohamed Keita tip-in with six seconds remaining.

    The Owls will have a difficult road stretch midway through conference play. Beginning Jan. 31, Temple plays four of five games away from home, traveling to UAB, North Texas, Florida Atlantic, and South Florida in between a Feb. 7 home matchup with East Carolina.

    Temple will return home to face Wichita State on Feb. 21 and Tulane on Feb. 24 before visiting East Carolina on Feb. 27. The Owls will play their conference home finale against Memphis on March 4 before ending the regular season at UTSA on March 7.

    Women’s schedule

    The women begin conference play with two home games, following their opener against Charlotte with a Jan. 2 matchup against Rice. The Owls will get an immediate test against the defending American regular-season champions, who went 17-1 in conference play last season.

    Temple will host each of the five teams who finished above the Owls in last season’s conference standings — Rice, East Carolina, South Florida, Tulsa, and North Texas — at the Liacouras Center.

    After opening January at home, the Owls will play four of their next six games on the road, including trips to Memphis, UAB, South Florida, and Wichita State. Temple closes the month at Tulane on Jan. 30 before traveling to UTSA on Feb. 6.

    The UTSA game will be Temple’s first meeting with the Roadrunners since they eliminated the Owls from last season’s American tournament. UTSA beat Temple, 59-51, in the second round before going on to win the conference tournament and earn an NCAA Tournament berth.

    Temple then begins a three-game homestand against Tulsa on Feb. 9, followed by Wichita State on Feb. 13 and Florida Atlantic on Feb. 17. The Owls’ final home game is against South Florida on Feb. 27 before they close the regular season at Florida Atlantic on March 6.