The Villanova Wildcats unofficially opened the 2024-25 college basketball season on Tuesday night with their annual Blue-White intrasquad scrimmage. Like the previous two years, the Wildcats entered the scrimmage missing three anticipated contributors; Jordan Dumont (rehabbing hips surgery), Aleksandar Gavalyugov (knee bruise), and Kris Parker (rehabbing foot injury).
Nevertheless, the Wildcats had a ton of talent on display and a ton of storylines to follow. The first would be Eric Dixon’s adjustment to playing the four alongside Enoch Boakye. Although they faced off against each other in game one, we got to see them, as well as the rest of the projected starting five, in game two.
Jhamir Brickus opened the scoring in game two with a sweet mid-range floater, but defense was the tale of the tape in the opening half of game two. Nnanna Njoku, Josiah Moseley and Tyler Perkins all registered blocks in the opening three minutes, while Jordan Longino stuffed Matthew Hodge’s attempt at the shot clock’s expiration just after the halfway mark.
A combination of lackluster offense and stifling defense spelled a 4-4 tie to send game two to a one minute overtime. Wooga Poplar opened the overtime knocking down a big three, to give team blue the win in game two.
Game three was the most interesting one as it featured a peculiar substitution: Jordan Longino for Tyler Perkins. In the first two games, Perkins was a standout on both teams he was on, and played solid on both ends of game three. Jordan Longino however, knocked down a deep three and a tough two in succession to impress on the other end.
There are three players essentially locked into a starting role. Jhamir Brickus, Wooga Poplar, and Eric Dixon. Tyler Perkins, Jordan Longino, Nnanna Njoku and Enoch Bokye will compete to fill the last two starting spots and I think we may have found who is in the lead for each tonight.
Eric Dixon’s first non-scoring stat recorded was a sweet bounce pass from the free throw line to Enoch Boakye in the dunkers spot, where he hammered home a thunderous slam. I don’t think that will be the last time we see that connection this year, and is encouraging on both ends.
While Tyler Perkins had a very good evening on both ends of the floor, Jordan Longino was arguably the top performer of the night. Game three is what set Longino apart, and while we still have over a month until the season starts, it seems like he may be in the lead for a job that was his to lose.
Another observation that was abundantly clear was the communication on both ends of the floor this year. It may have been due to the half empty gym, but the players’ communication was noticeably louder than in years past.
One of the vocal leaders on the floor on Tuesday night was a noticeably slimmed down Nnanna Njoku. Njoku repeatedly used his boisterous voice to communicate with the young guys such as Malcolm Thomas to get them organized on both ends of the floor. Injuries have hampered the early career for Njoku, but using him combined with Boakye will give Villanova two athletic rim protectors, something that they have not had in the Kyle Neptune era.
The last piece that was a big question mark was how the freshmen were going to contribute. While we can not put too much stock into a scrimmage, there were some flashes of what we could come to expect on the Main Line. Josiah Moseley and Matt Hodge both made some key plays on both ends, but no play was bigger, by any player all night, than Malcolm Thomas’ poster slam on Eric Dixon in game four.
Overall, this was a positive showing for the Wildcats in the early going. Kyle Neptune, on the broadcast, mentioned that not a lot of defense was being played tonight, but the offense left some to be desired. The good news is that this may have been the cleanest scrimmage in the Kyle Neptune era on the Main Line.
The Wildcats will have one more chance to fully knock the cobwebs in a charity exhibition at The Finneran Pavilion on October 27th.
