NEW ORLEANS — Justin Moore lost a chance to compete in the Final Four, but he added a special advisor that to help him through his lengthy rehab.
The Villanova junior guard tore his right Achilles tendon in Saturday’s South Region final, ending his season — and possibly his college career — prematurely. Kevin Durant, who suffered the same injury in the 2019 NBA Finals and developed a relationship with Wildcats coach Jay Wright during their time together with USA Basketball, is helping Moore through the process.
After Villanova received the diagnosis, Wright reached out to Durant. The Nets star immediately told Wright he wanted to speak to Moore and his parents, and explain to them that while it’s a difficult injury to recover from, plenty of players in the NBA have been able to overcome it.
“People in the NBA know now that you can come back from that,” Wright recalled Durant saying. “He said earlier, before me, when that happened to you, NBA people thought you were done. But so many people have come back from that now, I want him to know that he’s not done and NBA people know that, too.”
Durant had a Facetime call with Moore, an All-Big East first team selection, and plans to help him along as he works his way back.
“Justin said it was really comforting to know, and to know that he’s got him as kind of an advisor on his way through this,” Wright said.
Moore will travel to the Final Four on Saturday to join his teammates and watch their game against Kansas, Wright said.
North Carolina has changed the narrative over the last two months, going from an underachieving team to one that is two wins away from a national championship. The Tar Heels heard plenty of criticism, including that they were soft, before taking off and winning 16 of their last 19 games.
“It definitely pissed us all off,” forward Armando Bacot said of that label. “It was kind of upsetting just because I didn’t think we were really a soft team. I think we just weren’t playing together. … I feel like even getting to this point we just showed how much farther we are from being a soft team. We’re probably actually the toughest team.”
Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, announced on Thursday the Final Four is a sellout. The Superdome’s capacity for the event is 71,500.