City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
--
It took a while for the Wildcats to get rolling, but Villanova eventually showed why it is considered by many as one of the Top 10 teams in the country heading into this season. The Wildcats picked up a 75-60 win against Ivy League foe Columbia in their season opener at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night. Here are some thoughts, notes and quotes from the game:

1. Freshman class sees first action

Collin Gillespie’s first shot in a Villanova uniform was an airball.

The 6-foot-3 freshman guard got a wide open look in the left corner, but missed way long with his first college field goal attempt.

Gillespie shook off the miss, making his next two attempts, threes from the left and right wings. The Archbishop Wood product was the second substitution off Villanova’s bench on Friday. He played 19 minutes and finished with six points, two rebounds and one assist in his Villanova debut.

“He’s going to have to have the ability move on from plays like that,” junior guard Jalen Brunson said. “He hit two back-to-back threes after that, so I mean his confidence is off the charts. You just don’t see a change in demeanor or anything.”

Fellow Catholic League product Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree also saw nine minutes of action. Freshman wing` Jermaine Samuels, out of Franklin, Mass., played seven minutes, going 0-for-5 from the floor.

“We have to get those young guys experience,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “It might look bad early, it might hurt us early. But there is potential at the end to be a good team.”

2. Spellman struggles early, gets going in second half

Redshirt-freshman forward Omari Spellman had to wait an extra year for his Wildcats debut and the rust showed at the start of Friday’s opener. It took a while for the young big man to get things going as he was just 1-of-4 from the floor in the first half with two points and two rebounds.

Spellman woke up in the second half, scoring nine points and collecting nine rebounds. The 6-8, 260-pound freshman had a dominant two-minute stretch in the second half. First, he tipped in his own offensive rebound, shielding off a defender with his left arm and using his right to put the ball in the hoop. Two possessions later, he bullied his defender in the post for a layup. The next time down the court, he hit Mikal Bridges with a pass for an easy dunk. Finally, on Villanova’s next possession, Spellman tipped in a Bridges miss despite being fouled.

The brief stretch showed why he was such a heralded recruit and why Villanova fans were so disappointed he couldn’t play last year. There’s still plenty to work on, especially defensively, but as he gets more and more game experience, Spellman will only get better.

“I like that he rebounded the ball,” Wright said. “For a big guy, that’s the most difficult offense to guard and he did it in his first game...decision-making, communicating defensively, he’ll get better. He just has to play. He hasn’t played a game in two years.”

3. Look for balanced attack from this year’s ‘Nova team

Everybody who saw significant action did a little bit of something for Villanova. Seven players played 19-or-more minutes on Friday night. All seven scored at least six points, six had eight-or-more points and four reached double figures.

For stretches, Jalen Brunson was the dominant scorer. The junior guard went 3-of-6 in the first half for nine points and finished the game with 14 points and three assists. Redshirt-junior forward Eric Paschall also showed he can score the rock, leading the Wildcats with 15 points in addition to grabbing nine rebounds. At the beginning of the second half, Donte DiVincenzo had the hot hand. He finished with 13 points, all in the final 20 minutes.

Wright said the balanced attack is a trend he hopes continues throughout this season.

“We have to make that a strength for us,” Wright said. “Some players look at that as, ‘I’m not getting into a rhythm. That’s what most players think like. We had a series there in the second half where...everybody was getting everybody else shots. If we can get like that, if we can get consistent like that, no one cares who’s the leading scorer, we do have great balance.”