City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- There wasn’t really much Lafayette could do against Villanova on Friday night at the PPL Center. A very good Wildcats team made 11 of its first 13 shots and nine of its first 11 threes on its way to a 104-57 win.

Here are some notes & quotes from the game:

1. Bridges stays hot

Mikal Bridges set a career high on Tuesday night with 23 points against Nicholls State. The mark didn’t last long, as Bridges scored 24 points in Friday night’s win. He had just one game of 20-or-more points in his entire career before the Wildcats’ past two contests.

“He’s never lacked confidence, but he’s always kind of played a complementary role and he’s always been fine with that,” Wright said. “He’s really confident that it’s his time to be a leader on this team and be a very aggressive player.”

The redshirt-junior wing was hot from the start. He made his first three 13 seconds into the game to give the Wildcats a lead they would not relinquish. Bridges didn’t miss a shot in the first half, going 6-for-6 from the floor.

His first miss came when he had a shot blocked on the fastbreak about three minutes into the second half. Bridges made 9-of-10 attempts in the game, including all six of his shots from 3-point range. He is averaging 18.3 points per game this season.

“My teammates, they were finding me just being in the right spot,” Bridges said of his recent success. “A lot of them had wide open shots and they just kicked that extra pass and that’s what we do. We look for each other, and that’s why I’m scoring because of my teammates.”

2. Brunson no slouch either

With Bridges putting on a shooting clinic, it was almost a quiet 22 points for junior guard Jalen Brunson on Friday night. While Bridges got out to a lights-out start, Brunson picked his spots and took nothing but good shots. He finished 9-of-11 from the field and 4-for-6 from deep.

Brunson contributed in a number of ways for the Wildcats. He tallied six assists with just one turnover, an offensive foul. He racked up four steals and collected four rebounds as well to stuff the statsheet. Brunson has at least 14 points, three assists and three rebounds in each of the Wildcats first three games.

With the score out of hand, Brunson was taken out with about 10 minutes left to give freshman Collin Gillespie some minutes running the offense. Even when out of the game, Brunson sat near the coaches and barked out instructions to his young teammate. For example, after a Gillespie turnover, Brunson shouted, “Next play! Next Play!”

Gillespie, an Archbishop Wood product, scored seven points and added two assists and a steal in the win.

“I know I can definitely help Collin because I was in his position freshman year when I was behind (Ryan Arcidiacono),” Brunson said. “I just try to give him a little piece of my mind of what I’ve been able to learn just from my background.”

3. Klinewski impresses, needs some help

Leopards junior big man Matt Klinewski continued his hot start to the season against Villanova. Klinewski shot 5-of-10 from the field, scoring 16 points and grabbing six rebounds in just 19 minutes of action.

The battle between him and Villanova redshirt-freshmen forward Omari Spellman was fun to watch before the game got too out of hand. While Spellman finished with 15 points, Klinewski definitely had the upperhand when the two were in the game at the same time.

“He’s a really good player,” Klinewski said. “Going up against him, he’s just a big body, and it was fun to bang with him down low a little bit.”

Other than Klinewski, the rest of the Leopards shot 33 percent from the field. Freshman guards Alex Petrie and E.J. Stephens continued to fill the scoring roles behind Klinewski. Petrie scored 12 points (5-of-13), which is right around his season average, while Stephens scored eight (4-of-8).

The Leopards have three freshmen and three sophomores in the rotation. It will take some time before they are playing up to form.

“They’re going to get better,” Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said. “We have some good young guys.”

4. Jaworski sees first college action

Perkiomen Valley grad Justin Jaworski saw his first minutes of the season in Friday night’s loss. The 6-foot-1 guard missed the Leopards’ first two games with a sprained ankle. He was only able to practice one day before the matchup with Villanova.

It took a bit for Jaworski to get his feet under him, but he began to look comfortable as the game wore on. At times he was running point for Lafayette in the second half. He finished 2-of-6 for six points in 17 minutes of action.

Jaworski started and scored 16 points in Lafayette’s exhibition against Penn State before the injury. He should see more meaningful minutes as the season progresses.

“Obviously he’s pretty rusty, but I thought he did a pretty good job,” O’Hanlon said. “He’s a tough kid. He’s just going to get better and better.”