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Villanova gets back to Big 5 business against La Salle

11/28/2021, 11:45pm EST
By Ty Daubert

Ty Daubert (@TyDaubert)

Hours before taking on La Salle on Sunday night, Villanova coach Jay Wright took his team on a tour of the historic Palestra ahead of its Big 5 matchup at the arena. After not getting the chance to play in the building last season, Wright wanted his team to appreciate the chance to play at the near century-old gym once again.

We all have so much respect for the game, so much respect for the history of Philadelphia basketball,” Wright said. “... It’s great to be a part of Philadelphia basketball and to get to play here, it’s really special.”

The game between ‘Nova and La Salle marked the return of the full Big 5 basketball to the “Cathedral of College Basketball” for the first time in two seasons. Last year, the pandemic prevented four of the Big 5 teams from playing the full schedule, while Penn, the host school of the Palestra, did not compete in a regular season at all. 


Eric Dixon (above) and Villanova dunked all over La Salle in both teams' Big 5 opener Sunday night. (Photo: Gavin Bethell/GShotPics)

The opportunity for the Wildcats and Explorers to play in front of a live crowd at the Palestra was exciting for both sides, as well as a signal that Big 5 basketball is officially back.

“Any time you get a chance to play a game in the Palestra — I mean, even coming in and practicing in there — is special,” La Salle coach Ashley Howard said. “You walk down the tunnel, you get goosebumps, you feel the aura of the building. So many great games have been played here, so many great players have played in this building, great coaches have coached in this building. Any time you play here is going to be special.”

Two years removed from its last appearance at the Palestra, Villanova picked up right where it left off in the 2019-2020 season when it went 4-0 in Big 5 play. The Wildcats got out to a great first half, dominating the boards and not allowing the Explorers to get anything going offensively before hitting their own offensive struggles in the second half but having more than a big enough lead to seal a 72-46 win.

Overall, the Wildcats issued a balanced scoring attack with four players in double digits and three others between six and nine points. Point guard Collin Gillespie led the team with 13 points, forward Brandon Slater had 12 and guard Caleb Daniels and forward Eric Dixon each had 11; Dixon added a game-high eight rebounds. Big man Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, making his first appearance since March 2020, had two points and two rebounds off the bench.

La Salle’s offense was stagnant for much of the night as it fell to 2-3 (0-1 Big 5) on the season. The Explorer’s opened the game on a 4:57 scoring drought before freshman guard Khalil Brantley hit a jumper to put La Salle on the board. Then scoring the team’s next 10, he was the only Explorer to score until Jhamir Brickus converted a three-point play with 3:28 left to play in the first half. La Salle trailed 42-17 at the half, with Brantley scoring 12 of its points.


Collin Gillespie (above) had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win. (Photo: Gavin Bethell/GShotPics)

“I felt like in the first half, we just really struggled to score. It just really set us back in the game,” Howard said. “Our guys were jittery. We had some open looks, plays right at the rim. Villanova, they do such a good job pressuring the rim. Even though they’re small, they have decent size across the board. We weren’t able to take advantage of some of the opportunities that we had early in the game and it really set us back.”

La Salle performed better after the break, better limiting ‘Nova’s offense and seizing some additional scoring opportunities. Brickus scored 10 second-half points to finish with 13 and Brantley tallied 17 points on the night, but the Explorers still failed to get the whole team involved offensively, totaling a single assist in the entire game.

The Wildcats hit something of an offensive impasse of their own in the second half as well, with both teams failing to score for over five minutes at one point. La Salle began to show some different looks defensively by pressing at times, and Villanova didn’t quite have the same urgency it showed in the first half. Wright said while his team did lose some of its aggressiveness, he was pleased to hold on for a convincing win.

“Big 5 game — and you guys are probably sick of hearing me say this — but it’s kinda survive and advance,” he said. “You never know what it’s going to be like. I thought we played a good first half, did a really good job; they adjusted in the second half, made it tough on us. We didn’t do as good a job in the second half, but we’ll take it.”

If their first Big 5 contest was any indication, the Wildcats seem poised for further success against their other Philadelphia opponents. Villanova had a 25-game Big 5 winning streak, the longest in the history of the informal association, that was snapped in 2018 by Penn. ‘Nova then went undefeated in Big 5 play the next season. The Wildcats only played one Big 5 opponent last year — St. Joe’s in a home win at the Finneran Pavilion in front of no fans. 

Getting back to the Palestra for Sunday’s game was significant for Villanova, which will be back in the same gym on Wednesday to play Penn. As noted by Gillespie, who’s been playing games at the Palestra since he was a high schooler at Archbishop Wood in the Catholic League playoffs, it was only a regular season game that the teams should approach like any other. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t have a bit of extra meaning.

“It’s always exciting to play in these Big 5 games,” Gillespie said. “It was our biggest game because it was our next game, and that’s something we always talk about. It’s a historical place, there’s a lot of great players that have been through here, great teams that have played before us, it’s always exciting to get back in here. The Big 5 is a great tradition and we love to play in it.”


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