“Matt is a tremendous person with an unbelievable work ethic,” said Kevin Willard via press release. “We know he will be back better than ever.”
Hodge started all 29 games for the Wildcats this year, averaging 9.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game on 45.2% from the field and 36.8% from three-point range. The 6’8” forward from Belgium leads the team with 0.6 blocks per game.
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The loss is two-fold. Hodge already had to sit out all of last season due to NCAA eligibility “rules,” and now he will be forced to miss not only the end of this season, but likely the beginning of next season (at a minimum). From a team perspective, losing the forward leaves Villanova with only two players standing at that position: Malachi Palmer and Zion Stanford. At 6’8”, Hodge was the only player on the roster taller than 6’6” who isn’t a center. Palmer, whose role has been ascending as the season has gone on, will now likely step into the starting spot left by Hodge. Stanford, the transfer from Temple who had high expectations coming in, has not played since the Seton Hall game on February 4. The Wildcats already had a short lineup to begin with, with the 6’4” Tyler Perkins essentially playing small forward. The rebounding that has plagued this team against taller and more athletic teams will only get worse with this injury.
That said, there are two silver linings here:
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A torn ACL, while a serious injury, is much better than what many feared to have happened (torn Achilles)
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Villanova gets at least three games to figure out the new lineups before the NCAA tournament begins.
We get our first look at the new rotation on Wednesday at DePaul.
