City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The first public on-court appearance by any Big 5 team this preseason was the Villanova men’s Blue & White scrimmage, with a thousand or so Wildcats fans in attendance at the Finneran Pavilion on Tuesday night. Kyle Neptune’s squad played four six-minute ‘quarters,’ with the players changing teams throughout the night,

Here’s some observations from the evening:

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Injury Report
Three Wildcats were inactive on the evening: redshirt freshman Kris Parker is sidelined with a fractured toe suffered in the preseason; freshman guard Aleksandar Gavalyugov was out with a knee bone bruise, and redshirt freshman Jordann Dumont underwent arthroscopic surgery on both hips in May and remains out. 

Neptune didn’t have exact details on any of the trio, but he was generally optimistic about where they stand with about a month until the season begins.

“Everyone should be available hopefully by the time the year starts,” he said. “But they’re all in different places.”

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Brickus, Perkins have strong debuts

Jhamir Brickus and Tyler Perkins are familiar names to Big 5 fans: Brickus from his years at Coatesville and then La Salle, Perkins a standout at Penn in his freshman season last year. Both made the move from the city to the suburbs this offseason, and both will be big pieces for the Wildcats in their hunt to return to the NCAA Tournament. 

Both played well in the Blue & White scrimmage; Brickus finished with 16 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and going 8-of-8 from the foul line, the 5-11 guard playing his typical style of never getting sped up as he weaved his way around the court. Though playing in the Big East will be a step up from the Atlantic 10, Neptune doesn’t sound like he expects Brickus to be anything different from the undersized combo guard who can score and distribute equally well. 

“He’s obviously not the tallest of stature, but I mean, there’s nothing he can’t do, from shooting on the perimeter, off the dribble, off the catch, using ball screens, iso, posting up, he literally does everything,” Neptune said. “He reads ball screens literally perfectly. There’s times I’m getting on him in practice and I go back and watch the film (and go) ‘alright, he was right.’ He just sees the game at such an advanced level.”

Perkins, one of the top rookies in the Ivy League and a star for the Quakers last year, might have to come off the bench at Villanova. But the 6-4 lefty looks as strong as ever, and he finished with 13 points in the scrimmage. 

“To his credit, he came in — as in shape as he was last year, he’s really changed his body,” Neptune said. “His jumpshot is really improved as well and he brings a level of toughness and nastiness to practice and we’re expecting him to bring that same thing to game.”

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Longino in a good place

It’s been a tough few years for Jordan Longino, the Germantown Academy product battling through multiple injuries over the seasons which have kept him from getting into much of a rhythm. His junior season was his best yet, averaging 6.6 ppg and 2.5 rpg, and he’s only been a career 29% 3-point shooter. 

But Neptune said that Longino has had a healthy full offseason for the first time in his four years at Villanova, and it looked that way on Tuesday. Longino finished with 14 points, three assists, wto rebounds, two steals and a block, perhaps a hint that he’s finally going to fulfill the potential he’s shown since he was a freshman in high school. 

“I think when you get hurt and you get hurt multiple times, it’s not just your body that has to heal, the mental piece is just as important,” Neptune said. “I think he’s over that mental hurdle and we’re expecting big things from him, he’s had a big offseason, he’s retooled his shot a little bit, he’s more confident with the ball. He’s always been one of the most versatile and dependable defenders, so we’re looking forward to what he’s going to do this year.”

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Backups hold their own against potential starters

The second ‘quarter’ of the Wildcats’ scrimmage — each was only six minutes long — saw the presumed starting lineup go up against the backups. Jhamir Brickus, Wooga Poplar, Enoch Boakye, Jordan Longino and Eric Dixon suited up for the Blue side while Tyler Perkins and Nnanna Njoku teamed up with freshmen Matthew Hodge, Malcolm Thomas and Josiah Moseley. 

The youngsters held their own defensively, holding the veterans to just four points in those six minutes, scoring four themselves to force a one-minute ‘overtime.’ Poplar broke things open with a 3-pointer, while Brickus sealed the win for Blue with a pair from the line after Perkins missed two freebies for White.

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Moseley’s versatility flashes

Villanova’s got six players on the roster who are either true freshmen or redshirt freshmen; with three of them sidelined, it was Hodge, Thomas and Moseley who put on Villanova (practice) uniforms for the first time (in public). 

Of the trio, there was no doubt that Moseley had the most impact in the scrimmage. The 6-6 wing from Round Rock (Tex.) affected the game on both ends, finishing with six points, four rebounds, two assists and a block while flashing good defensive versatility and instincts as well as unselfishness offensively. 

The No. 72 prospect in 2024 according to ESPN, Moseley announced his commitment to Villanova exactly one year to the day before his Blue & White debut, picking the Wildcats over more than a dozen other high-major offers. 

“He’s a prospect, man,” Neptune said. “That dude has real length, real athleticism, one of the most athletic players we’ve had. We’ve had some high-level athletes here and he’s right there with all of them. His versatility defensively, he’ll only get better as his skill level improves. Bright future for him.”

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Final Statistics

Josiah Moseley: 6 pts (1-2 FG, 1-2 3PT, 3-5 FT); 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk
Jhamir Brickus: 16 pts (3-7 FG, 2-3 3PT, 8-8 FT); 1 reb, 1 ast
Tyler Perkins: 13 pts (5-10 FG, 1-5 3PT, 2-4 FT), 2 reb
Wooga Poplar: 7 pts (2-6 FG, 1-2 3PT, 2-2 FT), 9 reb
Enoch Boakye: 13 pts (2-3 FG, 9-10 FT), 5 reb
Jordan Longino: 14 pts (4-12 FG, 1-5 3PT, 5-5 FT), 2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk
Malcolm Thomas: 8 pts (3-4 FG, 2-2 FT), 3 reb
Nnanna Njoku: 3 pts (1-2 FG, 1-1 3PT), 4 reb
Matthew Hodge: 0 pts (0-2 FG), 3 reb, 1 ast
Eric Dixon: 15 pts (7-18 FG, 1-7 3PT), 1 ast

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Lineups
First Period: 11-10 Blue
White: Perkins, Poplar, Boakye, Longino, Hodge
Blue: Moseley, Brickus, Thomas, Njoku, Dixon

Second Period: 9-4 Blue (OT)
White: Moseley, Perkins, Thomas, Njoku, Hodge
Blue: Brickus, Poplar, Boakye, Longino, Dixon

Third Period: 18-13 White
White: Brickus, Perkins, Poplar, Boakye, Dixon
Blue: Moseley, Longino, Thomas, Njoku, Hodge

Fourth Period: 19-11 Blue
White: Moseley, Longino, Thomas, Njoku, Dixon
Blue: Brickus, Perkins, Poplar, Boakye, Hodge