City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Like almost every young basketball player growing up in and around Philadelphia, Mikal Bridges went to his fair share of Big 5 games: Saint Joseph’s, Temple, Villanova, it didn’t matter.

Few are able to end up playing in those city rivalries, now in their 60th season as a round-robin “tournament” whose winner might not matter to the NCAA Tournament but certainly carries major bragging rights around town.

Fewer still are able to make an impact in their first-ever Big 5 contest, like Bridges did in scoring 11 points in his Big 5 debut to help Villanova win its 11th-straight game in the series, 86-72.

“It’s great, I’ve been waiting for this since last year,” he said. “It’s amazing to be playing in it now.”

In addition to his 11 points against St. Joe’s, Bridges added two rebounds, an assist and a steal, though he was involved in the mix for a lot of loose balls and rebounds and came up with one of the key buckets of the game, a dunk-and-one with 8:38 left after the Hawks had cut a 15-point lead down to single digits and had a roaring, sold-out crowd behind them.

“Tonight Mikal, moving without the ball, defensively at the top of our press, hit some 3s, just did everything,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “I was really proud of him.”

Bridges, born in Philadelphia but a graduate of Malvern’s Great Valley High School, spent the 2014-15 season redshirting behind a talented group of wings that included senior Darrun Hilliard and sophomores Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins.

It was an idea the Villanova coaching staff didn’t spring onto Bridges until he’d gotten onto campus, but it was one he and his parents supported; at the time, the 6-7 wing was around 175 pounds and wasn’t quite ready for the physicality of the high-major level.

“I liked the idea a lot, because (of) getting stronger and stuff and preparing me for next year and I’ll be a freshman for this year,” he said. “I’m actually kind of happy that they did that because I wouldn’t have played much last year, it would have been like a waste of a year and I would have been a sophomore playing now.”

Now at 191 pounds, Bridges is clearly ready for a significant role with the Wildcats, ranked No. 8 in the country in the latest Associated Press poll. The late-blooming wing showed off his versatility during his senior year in high school, when he led Great Valley to a 22-3 record, pacing the team in every major statistical category.

This year, he’s being counted on to play the ‘2’ through ‘4’ and stretch the defense with his shooting ability, as well as play at the top of ‘Nova’s full-court pressure defense.

Through Villanova team’s first seven games of the season he’s averaging 6.5 ppg and 3.0 rpg, shooting 38.5 percent overall and 24 percent from 3-point range, though those numbers jump to 41.4 percent and 33.3 percent over the last five games.

“I’ve played okay, didn’t shoot the ball as well but I’ve been playing hard on defense,” he said. “As long as I play harder and harder on defense, that’s all that matters.”