The Basketball Tournament 2022: Big 5 Team Profile

Big 5 is a newly assembled team featuring talent from Villanova, Temple, St. Joe’s, Penn, and La Salle.

There is also a lot of first year TBT talent on the roster. What they lack in TBT experience, they make up for in scoring. The TBT is full of hoopers across the board, and Big 5 is loaded with them. They have a lot of overseas talent that will look to come together to make an underdog run throughout the tournament. The pieces are there for this 6 seed to make a run at it.

For more TBT team profiles, click here.

Big 5 Roster:

• C.J. Aiken (St. Joseph’s University)
• Dalton Pepper (Temple)
• Damion Moore (Temple)
• Devon Goodman (University of Pennsylvania)
• Jerrell Wright (La Salle)
• Jordan Price (Auburn, La Salle)
• Markus Kennedy (Villanova, SMU)
• Quenton Decosey (Temple)
• Ramon Galloway Sr. (South Carolina, La Salle)
• Ryan Daly (St. Joseph’s University)

Coaching Staff:

• Rob Hollomon (General Manager)
• Khalif Wyatt (Head Coach)
• Andre Wilburn (Assistant Coach)

Region:

• Rucker Park, NY

Team MVP: C.J. Aiken

It is always a good thing to have a player who has had the stat line of 35 points and 16 rebounds in ONE game. The Big 5 have just that in C.J. Aiken. In 2014 he put up 35 points on 16/26 shooting along with 16 rebounds in TBT. He is a high flyer who will play above the rim and protect it on defense as well. Look for him to anchor both the offense and defense. He will occasionally step out and shoot the 3 as well. Defenders will have to match his physicality and also be ready for any backdoor cuts that may turn into lobs if they do not pay attention.

Make-or-Break Player: Jordan Price

The 6’5 guard has been a scorer his entire career. In his three years at La Salle, Price never averaged less than 15.3 points per game. This will be his second time being at The Basketball Tournament. In his first go at it in 2018, he had a pretty crazy stat line. He averaged 24.5 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals per game. He also went 4.5/8.5 from 3 per game, good for 52.9%. Those are some good numbers, and Big 5 will look to him to score once again. This tournament is loaded with scorers, but Price has proven that he can get just as hot as any of them from 3.

Team Outlook:

Big 5 will rely a lot on Aiken and Price to do the scoring. Combining that with 7 footer Damion Moore and guards Ryan Daly and Devon Goodman make for a good core. They also have solid options outside of that who will be capable of contributing a lot. It will be interesting to watch Moore and Aiken together, as they have the potential to be one of the best rim protecting duos in all of TBT. That will take some pressure off of the guards on the perimeter and could make it really tough for opponents to score.

Big 5 will take on another Northeast team in the Ex Pats for their opening round match up. Although Big 5 are the lower seed at number 6, do not write them off just yet. This should be a really fun game. Combining it with the fact that it is at Rucker Park makes it that much better. Big 5 very well have the potential to be one of the lower seeds that make a run in TBT. They have all the pieces, it will just come down to whether they all mesh or not.

For more The Basketball Team profiles, click here.