Villanova excited to finally return
Isolated in hotel room, players had to find ways to stay in shape during a layoff that began Dec. 27.
Until last Thursday, when Villanova returned from its third shutdown due to COVID-19, all senior guard Collin Gillespie could do was workout on his own. There was no physical contact with his teammates, coaches or anyone else in the program.
“It’s been tough,” Gillespie said, a graduate of Archbishop Wood. “It kind of takes you back to high school a little bit when you’re in the gym alone and you have a ball and like three chairs with you and you have to get your own rebounds so it’s a little weird kind of doing that for a couple of weeks.”
Isolated in hotel rooms for most of that time, the players had to find ways to stay in shape during a layoff that began on Dec. 27 when head coach Jay Wright and another person in the program tested positive, and resumed again on Jan. 4 when two players tested positive.
“Doing stuff in the room as much as I can, push-ups, step-ups,
keep the legs going, keep the legs fresh, keep the upper body strong and staying consistent with that,” senior forward Jermaine Samuels said.
Even when the Wildcats did return to practice, it wasn’t with a full squad. Samuels and guard Caleb Daniels where held out until they underwent a required myocarditis test. They were cleared and returned Monday.
It was the first full practice since Jan. 3.
“We were real excited to get back into the gym with each other, just have each other around because we weren’t able to see each other at all so it was good to be back together, get competition
and get into practice and just playing each other, running up and down and it’s been good,” Gillespie said. “We’re excited to be playing again.”
Daniels is dealing with a calf problem and forward Abington graduate Eric Dixon has an Achilles issue, but Wright said every other player will be available when the third-ranked Wildcats (8-1, 3-0 Big East) host Seton Hall (9-5, 6-2) Tuesday at Finneran Pavilion (9 p.m. FS1), their first game in 27 days.
The Wildcats had won six in a row, five by double digits, before the stoppages, the last game an 85-68 win against Marquette on Dec. 23.
“There’s about six of the guys that have been working out for five days so I think we have five, six guys who are in really good shape and are
good to go,” Wright said. “I feel good about them. We got a couple of guys on the court today for the first time. They did individual things. They look like they’re in pretty good shape. Playing in a game, game decisions, game situations, I just don’t know what we’re going to do yet.”
Wright said the Wildcats may look a little “raggedy,” but the players are confident they have not lost their edge.
“A lot of the guys haven’t been with each other in a while,” Samuels said. “We get the chance to put on a Villanova uniform again and get a chance to play Villanova basketball and nothing more excites us.”
“I think it makes us more eager to compete,” Gillespie added. “Whenever you can get a chance to play somebody in another uniform you’re excited to play. You like playing with your brothers against other teams so we’re excited. Our guys are competitive. We’ve been killing each other in practice because we’re just really competitive guys so we’re ready to go out there and play another team.”
Villanova has split its last four meetings with Seton Hall, the average margin of victory just 3.5 points.
LA SALLE 90, SAINT JOSEPH’S 83 » Jared Kimbrough had a career-high 24 points as La Salle topped St. Joe’s. Anwar Gill had 15 points for La Salle (6-8, 3-4 Atlantic 10). Jhamir Brickus added 10 points. Kimbrough made 12 of 13 shots from the field.
Jack Forrest scored a career-high 25 points for the Hawks (1-10, 0-5). Taylor Funk added 17 points, and Jordan Hall had 11 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.