NEW ORLEANS — Jay Wright was breaking down the changes that needed to be made in lieu of Justin Moore’s season-ending torn Achilles injury. Tweaks and adjustments Villanova had to make in the absence of its second-leading scorer.
Then, the Hall of Fame coach realized he had forgotten about the human element. The mental impact of what losing Moore in the game prior to the Final Four could do to his team.
He called his star point guard, Collin Gillespie.
“Do I need to talk to these guys about being ready, believing we can do this without Justin?” Wright asked him.
“No way,” Gillespie responded.
Everyone, the fifth-year senior told him, understood. Villanova had been here before, in almost this exact spot a year ago.
Instead of Moore, it was Gillespie who suffered a season-ending injury one game before the Big East Tournament. Villanova ended up losing the next game, but responded by reaching the Sweet 16 and pushing eventual national champion Baylor for 30 minutes before falling short.
History, unfortunately for the second-seeded Wildcats, is repeating itself. Rather than lament the position they have found themselves in, they are using that experience this week entering the matchup with Kansas, the lone No. 1 seed to reach the Final Four.
“It was almost like we’ve been here before,” standout senior forward Jermaine Samuels said.
After the prognosis was known, Villanova’s biggest concern was the mental well-being of Moore, who suffered the injury late in Saturday’s South Region final victory over No. 5 Houston. But Moore, who will fly out to New Orleans to rejoin his teammates for the game, was upbeat.
“Y’all got me and I got y’all,” he told them. “I don’t need to be on the floor to know you guys got my back.”
Kansas (32-6) certainly won’t take Villanova lightly. Not after getting waxed by the Wildcats in the 2018 Final Four and after struggling to get past Big East schools Creighton and Providence earlier in the tournament.
“If you can go 4-1 against [those teams], that certainly has our respect right there,” said Jayhawks coach Bill Self, who pointed to Villanova’s one-sided win over UConn that came without Moore in January as proof it can thrive without him.
Of course, losing Moore, an All-Big East first team selection who was averaging 14.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists, is obviously a severe blow. He often guarded the opposition’s top perimeter scorer and has developed into a clutch shotmaker. Villanova (30-7) wasn’t deep to begin with, and Moore’s injury forces sixth man Caleb Daniels into the starting lineup.
It does create an opportunity for someone else, possibly former five-star prospect Bryan Antoine, a Tinton Falls, N.J., native whose three years at Villanova has been hampered by injuries.
“It’s very tough that we lost Justin. And it does hurt a little bit. But these guys are ready,” Samuels said. “The same guys put in the same work as Justin did all year. A lot of people don’t see the hours they put in after the games, before the games, and they’re ready to go.”
That has been the message all week: The Wildcats believe they have enough to cut down the nets Monday night. It may mean unlikely contributions from the bench. Gillespie and Samuels will have to be at their best. Others, like Eric Dixon, Brandon Slater and Daniels, are going to be needed, too.
But Villanova isn’t in New Orleans as a spectator or to bring home a participation trophy. It intends to win a third championship in six years.
“We believe in ourselves, we have confidence in ourselves,” Gillespie said. “We don’t look at ourselves as underdogs.”