Villanova’s Acaden Lewis faced surprise benching, not injury, in first Wildcats game originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Acaden Lewis has arrived at Villanova with plenty of hype.
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The freshman guard was the No. 31 recruit in his class, per ESPN, and was originally a Kentucky commit before flipping to the Wildcats.
His much-hyped college debut came Monday night in Las Vegas against BYU and the more-hyped freshman, AJ Dybantsa.
Lewis had a bit of a bumpy start. He played 22 of the game’s first 25 minutes and had five points, two rebounds, three assists and a turnover while making just 1-of-6 shots from the floor.
And then Lewis disappeared.
Villanova fans couldn’t figure out why their talented freshman point guard wasn’t on the floor.
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After the game, new Wildcats coach Kevin Willard confirmed that Lewis had been benched, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff Neiburg.
So that was the final 15 minutes that Lewis sat and watched in a game Villanova lost, 71-66.
It’s certainly not how anyone would’ve wanted to draw up the start to the Lewis era at Villanova, and it’s not immediately clear what may have prompted the benching.
But the fact that Willard would outright call it a benching, too, suggests a message needed to be sent.
Villanova isn’t back in action until Saturday. That’ll be their home opener, when they play Queens University of Charlotte. It could be a good bounceback spot for Lewis, but all eyes will be watching to see if he appears to be back in the good graces.
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