Villanova Basketball: 100th Season in Review
Villanova University’ Basketball freshman guard Justin Moore goes on the offence against Ohio University in a sold-out Wells Fargo Center arena in Philadelphia. (Nick Schreder/AKSM Photography).
The "What-If’s" of 2019-20 would have been how the Wildcats would have fared both in the Big East and NCAA Tournament. Head Coach Jay Wright felt that his team was playing its best basketball by the end of the year, a factor for success in postseason play.
Article by Dave Nguyen, AKSM Sports
VILLANOVA, PA - Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, this year was a successful season for the Villanova Men’s Basketball team. They ended the year with two gutsy road wins, both at Seton Hall and survived a thriller at Capitol One Arena against arch rival Georgetown.
With Creighton’s victory over Seton Hall on the final day of the regular season, both teams along with Villanova fell into a three-way share of the Big East Regular season title. It’s the Wildcats sixth Big East title in the last seven years.
They were preseason ranked 10th in the country when the season started and earned a convincing victory against the Army Black Knights to open the 2019-20 campaign.
They were then blitzed on the road by an experienced Ohio State Buckeyes team by 25 points for their first true road game of the season.
They then traveled to Myrtle Beach for a Thanksgiving tournament, making all the way to the championship game before falling to the Baylor Bears by nine. The height of Baylor seemed to be too much for the Wildcats the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but the loss prepared the Wildcats for the toughness of conference play. Additionally, the win for Baylor helped propel them eventually to the top spot in college basketball as they were consistently the number one ranked team in the country a majority of the 2019-20 season.
Three straight Big 5 wins over La Salle, Penn, St Joe’s, and an eight point win against Delaware gave the Wildcats momentum when they squared off for a Christmas match-up against number one Kansas at a sold out Wells Fargo Center.
The Kansas game turned out to be a signature win for Villanova in a low scoring affair. A game that went back and forth, Collin Gillespie came up with a crucial steam with 71 seconds remaining in the game to cut the Kansas lead to two. With 20 seconds remaining in the second half, Jermaine Samuels sunk a three pointer to help propel the Wildcats to a 56-55 win in front of 20,706 fans in South Philadelphia.
Samuels had a spectacular junior campaign, averaging 10.7 points per game along with 5.5 rebounds. He bulked up by putting on some muscle coming into the season, and it paid off. He had a knack of crashing the boards on both ends of the floor and was not afraid to make clutch baskets down the stretch when his team needed it most. He had 17 double digit point games, including a season high 20 at home against Butler.
As the calendar turned to 2020 to start Big East play, the Wildcats came out firing, winning eight of their first nine games including a six point conference opening win against Xavier, a five point win against 13th ranked Butler, a five point road win at Creighton, a six point win against UConn (who will be returning to the Big East in 2020-21), and a four point road win at Providence.
On February first, the Wildcats went on a three game losing streak, the longest of the season. The Big East was one of the Best Conferences in the country, and the competition was fierce. Creighton made 50% of their threes at Wells Fargo Center, going 11-22 from beyond the arc, that became the difference as the Blue Jays earned a 15 point win. Villanova then lost a heart breaker at Butler in their next game, crawling back from a 10 point deficit to tie the game with 25 seconds left, ultimately falling to the Bulldogs on a buzzer-beating step-back three from Kamar Baldwin in front of a sold-out Hinkle Fieldhouse. The third straight loss came from Seton Hall, as Big East Player of the Year Miles Powell dropped 19 points at the Wells Fargo Center, helping give the Pirates a six point win on February 8th.
The Wildcats were able to get off the snide, ending their three game losing streak with a one point victory against Marquette. Marcus Howard was able to become the Big East’s all-time points leader in the contest, but his 24 point effort was not enough. Freshman center Jeremiah Robinson Earl dropped a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, becoming one of four Wildcats in double figures, giving Villanova a 72-71 win at Finneran Pavilion.
The 6’9 freshman from IMG Academy had a remarkable first season with the Wildcats, averaging 10.5 points per game along with 9.4 boards, the fourth best in the Big East. He had 16 double-digit scoring games, nine double-doubles, helping him earn Big East Freshman of the Year.
Villanova would follow their win against Marquette with a road win at Temple to gave Jay Wright’s club their sixth Big 5 Title in the last seven years, and their 27th overall.
Three more wins against DePaul, St. Johns, and at Xavier put the Wildcats on a five game win streak heading into a showdown at Wells Fargo Center against Providence. Friars guard Luanne Pipkins scored 27 points, which was enough to give Providence a four point road win on the last day of February.
Villanova finished the season strong by winning its last two games, finishing with an overall record of 24-7, 13-5 in Big East play, ending the season ranked where they started at the beginning of the 2019-20 campaign; 10th. For the eight straight year, the Wildcats finished with 20+ wins, having five of their seven rotational players averaging double digits in points per game.
Junior Guard Collin Gillespie matured tremendously, increasing his scoring average from last year to this year from 10.9 to 15.1 points per-game this season. He distributed the ball more in 2019-20, tossing 41 more dimes from last year, to average 4.5 per game. He was the catalyst of the offense and a fearless leader on both ends of the floor.
However, the best player on the hardwood for Villanova this season was Saddiq Bey. The D.C. native blossomed in his sophomore season, earning a unanimous first team All Big East selection, was one of 15 players on the ballot for the Wooden Award, and was named the nation’s best small forward in the country receiving the Julius Erving Award. He doubled his scoring average from his freshman season (8.2) to this year (16.1), coming up with big shots throughout the year. With his skillset, he will have a chance to play in the NBA in the near future.
Along with Bey, Robinson-Earl will have a chance to enter the 2020 NBA Scouting Combine and get feedback if they have what it takes to be selected in this year’s NBA Draft. If both players decide to return to Nova Nation next year, the Wildcats have a chance to cut down the nets in Indianapolis next season, receiving lots of national recognition as the preseason Number One team in the country for the 2020-21 season.
The "What-If’s" of 2019-20 would have been how the Wildcats would have fared both in the Big East and NCAA Tournament. Head Coach Jay Wright felt that his team was playing its best basketball by the end of the year, a factor for success in postseason play.
What people can conclude about this year’s Wildcat squad, is that they had a successful season, ending it as a champion.