VILLANOVA, Pa.– The Wildcat nation got its first real taste of Cam Whitmore here last night at the Pavilion.
The noise level rose every time he touched the ball.
Villanova’s gifted 6-7 232 pound freshman forward, the MVP of McDonald’s All American game, scored 21 points and grabbed six rebounds off the bench in just 23 minutes as Villanova defeated Penn, 70-59, putting some life in a fading Big Five City Series.
“When you consider he’s just a freshman, coming off thumb surgery on his shooting hand and and he’s only had four or five practices and this is really his first time playing, it makes a big impression,” Villanova first year coaah Kyle Neptune said.
Whitmore got a cameo when Villanova defeated Oklahoma last weekend at Wells Fargo Arena in South Philly.
He announced himself to the college basketball world in the second half when he soared over four Penn players to throw down a dunk in traffic. It is was easy to see he has a near perfect stroke and the type of strength and athleticism that should make him an NBA lottery pick in the 2023 draft.
“Enjoy him. He wont be around long,” Penn coach Steve Donahue said. “It’s a long time ago but he reminds me of Kenny Durrett (the late 6-8 superstar from La Salle who played in the city from 1969 throuigh 1971. “He’s big, strong, athletic and you try to close out on him he handles the ball like a 6-2 guard.”
The addition of Whitmore gives the Cats (4-5) a much needed piece as they prepare for a fluid, talented Big East, which has been waitiing for the day Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright to move on. Wright was in the building along with another former Villanvoa coach Steve Lappas, doing color analysis on a CBS broadcast of the game.
The Cats didn’t shoot the ball great and they gave up 25 points to Penn’s clever guard Jordan Dingle, who also had nine rebounds, four assists and two steals; and were outerbounded, 34-25.But they were never in danger of losing this game. But they are getting steady double figuire scoring from center Eric Dixon, forward Brandon Slater and guard Caleb Daniels and building a rotation. Theyl imited their turnovers to six against Penn and converted 14 Quaker turnovers into 23 points. They also shot a near perfect 18 for 21 free throws.
Villanvova may be 2-1 in in City Series competition, losing to Temple on the road. But their near domination of this five team city rivalry since 2014 has Inquirer perceptive local columnist Mike Jensen writing that maybe the focus should shift to a six team tournament at the start of every season between Villanova, Penn, La Salle, St. Joseph’s, Temple and Drexel, with the two highest ranked teams on Ken Pom drawing a bye, first round games played on campus sites with the semi-finals and finals played at the Palestra.
Sadly, it may be a new event whose time has come.
