Bad news for the Wildcats, as the school has revealed that freshman Jermaine Samuels has suffered a fractured bone in his left hand. The injury is believed to have been suffered in the second half of Wednesday night's win over DePaul. There is currently no timetable for his return.
The news is a double blow to Villanova and Nova Nation. Samuels had his best game as a Wildcat on Wednesday night, and looked well on his way to becoming a more regular contributor, something that would be huge for the 'Cats as the season progresses. Just as Samuels was starting to find his stride, he will be sidelined with injury.
In addition to the frustration of losing Samuels just as he was finding his comfort and confidence, 'Nova now has some serious depth concerns. Entering the season, depth was expected to be a relative strength for Villanova. Now, with Samuels and fellow freshman Collin Gillespie out (with eerily similar injuries), Jay Wright is back to working with a seven man rotation. Grasping for any positive, 'Nova found itself in a similar situation last season with the NCAA ruling on Omari Spellman and the injury to Phil Booth, so there is some experience with the current group in dealing with these kinds of situations.
But overall, this is terrible news for Jermaine Samuels, and very tough news for Villanova. Hopefully both Samuels and Gillespie can find their way back to the court sooner rather than later. We will have further updates when they become available.
The news is a double blow to Villanova and Nova Nation. Samuels had his best game as a Wildcat on Wednesday night, and looked well on his way to becoming a more regular contributor, something that would be huge for the 'Cats as the season progresses. Just as Samuels was starting to find his stride, he will be sidelined with injury.
In addition to the frustration of losing Samuels just as he was finding his comfort and confidence, 'Nova now has some serious depth concerns. Entering the season, depth was expected to be a relative strength for Villanova. Now, with Samuels and fellow freshman Collin Gillespie out (with eerily similar injuries), Jay Wright is back to working with a seven man rotation. Grasping for any positive, 'Nova found itself in a similar situation last season with the NCAA ruling on Omari Spellman and the injury to Phil Booth, so there is some experience with the current group in dealing with these kinds of situations.
But overall, this is terrible news for Jermaine Samuels, and very tough news for Villanova. Hopefully both Samuels and Gillespie can find their way back to the court sooner rather than later. We will have further updates when they become available.