Philly Basketball 24 • 7 • 365

City of Basketball Love

Current Section

Home

Drexel alum Phil Goss still going strong

07/22/2015, 12:00pm EDT

By Anthony Dabbundo

Anthony Dabbundo (@AnthonyDabbundo)
--

Despite spending his last 10 years playing professional basketball overseas in Europe, former Drexel point guard Phil Goss still has a special place in his heart for Philadelphia.

“It’s good to be back in Philadelphia, this is like a second home for me in the States,” Goss said while playing in The Basketball Tournament at Philadelphia University this past weekend. "So I come back here and check on the guys here at Drexel now.”

Goss was here as a part of City of Gods, a Maryland-based team playing in The Basketball Tournament, competing with 96 other teams for a $1 million grand prize.

He played his high school basketball at Oxon Hill, a school in Maryland, before committing to Drexel and playing big minutes for all four years of his collegiate career. From 2001-2005, he averaged 12.7 points and 2.6 assists per game.

The Maryland native is near the top of the record books in many key categories in Drexel history. He’s 10th all time in scoring, with 1,473 points in four seasons. He’s second all time in 3-pointers made with 306, and he is fourth all-time in steals.

In addition to Drexel history, Goss also received recognition from the CAA, where he was named on the league’s All-Rookie team as a freshman in 2001-2002 and honored as a first-team selection as a junior (2003-04) and second team as a senior (2004-05).

After college, Goss has had sustained success professionally in Europe for the last 10 years. He had perhaps his most efficient season overseas last year playing in Venice, averaging 14.1 points and five assists per game.

He attributes playing so well at 32 years old to being more experienced and having a better understanding of the game as a point guard. He makes smarter decisions, and he had his best assist-turnover ratio last season.

“The game is slowing down for me, I’ve just got to pick my spots and try to be more efficient as I get older,” Goss said. “It’s not about the quantity, it’s about the quality of my game and how many shots I’m taking and how many shots I’m making.”

The former Drexel guard has made a living in Italy out of being the distributor and getting to the rim; however, he knows that in this tournament, he has to take a backseat role to some of the other players on the team.

Goss picks and chooses his spots to get his shots up, but is mostly a role player on this team because of the superior talent around him.

“I just want to get out there and make my teammates happy. We have a very talented team and I can’t play the same way I do in Europe like I do with these guys,” Goss said. “The talent level is much higher here on this team than some of the teams in Europe.”

One thing that he cherishes about playing in this tournament is being able to reunite and play with old friends. They know each other’s games well, which could benefit them in the long run as they get deeper into the tournament.

City of Gods features Michael Sweetney, a former New York Knicks first round draft pick, whom Goss played with in high school. He also played against current teammate David Hawkins while Hawkins played at Temple in college.

“Some of these guys I’ve played with before in high school, some of them I’ve played against in college,” Goss said. “So it’s good for us to come back and just be together again like we’re back in high school in our younger days.”

Goss knows that one day his basketball career will come to an end, and he hopes that he can remain a part of the game he loves in any way possible. He hopes to use his connections that he has developed in the Philadelphia area to have a behind the scenes role within basketball.

“I try to talk to everybody. At some point I have to stop playing basketball so I have to use my relationships.”

Goss hopes that one day he will be back in Philadelphia, in an off-court role. He wants to be involved with the sport he loves for years to come.

But for now, he will stick with being the point guard for City of Gods, and trying to help his team win the grand prize.

“After all”, Goss said, “you can't run from the game of basketball.”