Villanova freshmen Robinson-Earl and Moore ready for their first Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Justin Moore have played significant roles for the Wildcats this season despite their rookie status, and the team will count on them when they begin competition Thursday night in the tournament.
The end of the Big East Conference regular season means the players and coaches for each of the 10 teams enter a rather surreal world that consists of sellout crowds and abundant noise at Madison Square Garden over four days and five sessions of competition.
The environment could cause freshman players experiencing the Big East Tournament for the first time to lose focus and have all kinds of thoughts swimming through their heads. But Villanova’s Jeremiah Robinson-Earl says it will not be an issue for him or freshman teammate Justin Moore when they take the court for the first time Thursday night.
“I’ve just heard it’s a great experience and that we’ve just got to stay focused on each other, the players and the coaches,” Robinson-Earl said Monday, “and not get too caught up in how wild that Madison Square Garden and the fans are. We have to stay focused on the task at hand.”
As the Wildcats compete for what they hope will be their fourth consecutive tournament championship, coach Jay Wright will start two freshmen in his team’s quarterfinal Thursday night for the first time in the Big East Tournament since Randy Foye and Allan Ray were in the starting lineup in 2003.
The 6-foot-9 Robinson-Earl has started every game this season and leads Big East freshmen with an average of 32.7 minutes of playing time per game. The 6-4 Moore has started the team’s last 10 games and averages close to 30 minutes.
The exploits of the pair have been noticed by those outside the program. Robinson-Earl and Moore, who have combined for 10 freshman of the week honors (Robinson-Earl six, Moore four), were unanimous selections to the Big East’s all-freshman team, and one of them likely will be named freshman of the year on Wednesday.
“We’re really proud of their growth,” Wright said, “and the growth isn’t just skill. It’s maturity on the court, maturity on the court preparing themselves, eating properly, getting the right rest, not being crazy college kids, being mature.
“When you get to be a junior or senior, you realize, ‘All right, I had my fun in college, this is my career.’ But when you’re a freshman, sometimes you don’t understand that. And those two really do. They’re very mature, very focused, and very committed to being great teammates.”
Moore is the leading scorer in the Big East among freshmen, averaging 11.3 points per game. He also tops the rookies in three-point shooting (39.6%) and threes made (61 total, 1.97 per game). Robinson-Earl has grabbed more rebounds (9.4 per game) than any other freshman, and he also is the best free-throw shooter (81.4%) in the class.
An important aspect of the pair’s rookie seasons is that they stay on the floor in the crucial closing final moments. The Wildcats have played nine Big East games this year decided by five or fewer points, and they are 7-2 in those contests.
“I would say it builds a lot of confidence,” Robinson-Earl said, “especially having a coach that believes in you at a young age to go out there and still be able to perform, how we require of us to play Villanova basketball. So it builds a lot of confidence for sure having a coach that does that for us.”
In Thursday night’s quarterfinals, the Wildcats will face the winner of Wednesday night’s opening-round game between Xavier and DePaul.