Maalik Wayns, shown earlier this season against Boston, leads Villanova into Big East play on Wednesday night. (Aaron Bracy/Philahoops)
By AARON BRACY
Philahoops Editor
Twitter: @Aaron_Bracy
Ready or not, Villanova’s five freshmen will get their first taste of Big East play on Wednesday night.
“It feels like a new season, just starting all over again,” Cats’ Darrun Hilliard told Philahoops after practice Tuesday. “Our record doesn’t mean anything.”
Villanova carries a 7-5 record into Wednesday’s 7 p.m. matchup at West Virginia (9-3). The Wildcats, as you might have expected, showed their youth often during the out-of-conference schedule.
“I thought it went pretty good, we got better every day,” Hilliard, who is tops among the newcomers at 7.0 points per game, said of the non-conference schedule. “We had some bumps in the road but got better every day.”
Junior Maalik Wayns, the leader on a team void of seniors, said the Wildcats are now starting to learn their roles.
“We always want to win every game, unfortunately we didn’t,” Wayns told Philahoops Tuesday. “But I felt us getting better and better. We lost to some good teams. There are things we can do better at but I think we’re getting better as a team.
“Everybody is getting more comfortable in their roles, whether it’s making shots, or even if they’re missing shots, they just keeping taking them. Mouph(taou) (Yarou) is getting aggressive on rebounds.”
Wayns has had to carry a large load for Nova and leads the team in scoring (17.4 ppg) and assists (5.2 apg). Following the Cats’ 73-52 win over American last Thursday, coach Jay Wright said Wayns had to be “great, not good” for Villanova to have success.
That doesn’t mean Wayns has to do it all, which is something he sensed early on.
“Early in the season they were like looking at me like when I get the ball they watch me,” he said. “Now they’re just playing off me.”
Wayns – and Nova Nation – hope the freshmen have progressed enough to be ready for the 18-game league schedule.
“I look forward to it, this is why I came here,” Wayns said of Big East play. “This is why I want to be a Villanova guard, to go down to West Virginia and Syracuse and Pittsburgh. I look forward to it and I think these young guys will too. They should embrace it.
“I let them know how crazy it gets and how some teams’ fans get real personal. But it’s all fun. It’s basketball. This is what we came here for. This is what we love to do.”
Said Wright, of preparing his freshmen for the environment, “You just have to let them live it. You have to count on the fact that they are ballplayers. They enjoy the challenge.”
“We’ve tried to just throw them into the fire,” Wright added. “It’s hard to tell them. Go on the road and play a Big 5 game on the road and West Virginia is similar to that, maybe even a little crazier.”
Hilliard said he is looking forward to the challenge of the Big East.
“The upperclassmen they tell us we have to be together, be brothers in there, arm and arm, just come out and play Villanova basketball,” he said. “It’s going to be tough environments, packed arenas, packed crowds, just have to come out and play Villanova basketball. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”
In the Mountaineers, Villanova will be facing an experienced group that is led by a pair of seniors, 6-8, 260-pound forward Kevin Jones, who leads the Big East in scoring (21.0 ppg) and rebounding (11.9 rpg); and 6-2, 195-pound guard Darryl Bryant, who nets 16.3 points per contest.
“Bryant and Jones are seniors; they have played in the Big East for four year,” Wright said. “They bring a level of experience to the floor that is important in Big East play.
“…With a team like this we have to make sure we do what we do well, especially when you’re going on the road. There’s going to be enough challenges and differences for them being on the road. They need to do what we do and be comfortable so they can play well.”
Wayns said the Wildcats will have to control the defensive glass, as WVU has outrebounded opponents 471-385 overall and 171-128 on the offensive backboard.
“We’re definitely going to have to keep them off the offensive glass and just play Villanova basketball, just do what we do,” Wayns said. “If we do what we do and do it well, we can beat anybody.”
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-Injury updates: Wright said junior big man Maurice Sutton was limited in practice Tuesday due to a virus, and he is questionable for Wednesday’s game.
Yarou, a 6-10 center, continues to improve after spraining his ankle in practice the night before the Cats’ 74-58 loss to St. Joe’s on Dec. 17 but he still is not at full strength.
Wright said Yarou is at about 80 percent. He enters averaging 12.9 points and 8.5 rebounds, but he has combined for just 5 points and 13 boards in 31 minutes the last two games.
For West Virginia, 6-9, 260-pound junior Deniz Kilicli has been slowed the last two games by a hip pointer. He averages 11.2 points and 6.0 rebounds, but played just five minutes in the Mountaineers’ 83-81 overtime loss to Baylor on Friday, finishing with 7 points and 2 rebounds.
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-More on Bryant: Bryant, a native of Brooklyn, is the all-time leading scorer in St. Raymond’s history. That’s saying something, considering the talent that has emerged from the Bronx high school.
“I’ve been playing against (Bryant) since I was in 9th/10th grade,” Wayns said. “It’s always fun to go against him. He’s a great guard from New York, tough, just like Philly guards. I always love going against New York guards.”
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-Rim shots: Nova’s two-game Big East road trip ends with Sunday’s 1 o’clock game at Marquette on New Year’s Day. … Dominic Cheek, a 6-6, 185-pound junior, also reaches double-figures for the Cats at 11.5 ppg. … A big problem for the Cats this season has been long-range shooting, and they enter Wednesday’s game hitting just 31.1 percent (85-for-269) from the arc.
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-Philahoops coverage: Philahoops will provide a recap from Wednesday’s game on site.
