Rapper Gunna kicked off the 2024-25 Villanova basketball season in style.
Villanova University held its annual Villanova Hoops Mania event on Friday, Sept. 20, in the Finneran Pavilion. Hoops Mania is the event that kicks off the Villanova basketball season. The event features a scrimmage, dunk contest and the first-ever skills challenge.
The main event of the evening is the special guest performer who is announced when they take the stage. Hoops Mania has featured big-name artists such as Drake, 50 Cent, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross and Meek Mill.
Gunna entered through the crowd to end the night with fifth-year Eric Dixon. The rapper performed a 35-minute set filled with Drip Too Hard, Hakuna Matata and much more.
With the first game only a little over a month away, here is what one can take away from Villanova Hoops Mania.
3 Takeaways:
The freshman class
Villanova only had one recruit in the 2023 freshman class, Jordann Dumont. This year the Wildcats signed four freshman recruits that consist of Matthew Hodge, Josiah Moseley, Malcolm Thomas, and Aleksandar Gavalyugov.
The Villanova freshman class looks impressive.
Hodge was quick to make an impact in the scrimmage. He had back-to-back scores early in the paint. Out of high school, Hodge was known for his two-way versatility and his physical size. In the short scrimmage, he displayed that.
Thomas was the 2024 Dunk Contest champion. His winning dunk was a Vince Cater-esque elbow hang. He has speed and can get vertical, similar to former guard Mark Armstrong’s fastbreak scores. Thomas can excel at fastbreak opportunities. He is an excellent defender, especially in passing lanes. If Thomas can disrupt offenses and grab steals, he can turn them into fastbreak opportunities.
Wooga Poplar
It is Poplar’s homecoming. The Philadelphia native returns home after spending his college career at Miami University.
Poplar displays a high level of basketball IQ. The Miami transfer hit a backdoor cut and finished at the basket. On the next drive, Poplar dropped in a three-pointer from the left side of the arch.
Poplar is one of the top-ranked three-point shooters in the country. In his junior year at Miami, he shot 38.5% from three-point range.
As a side note, Poplar led Miami last season in free throw percentage (86.4%). Villanova is known for its free throws. The Wildcats led the country in free throw percentage last season (80.8%). Villanova has led the country in team free throw percentage for the last three seasons.
Injuries
Two Wildcats did not participate in basketball activities at Hoops Mania due to injury, per Mike Sheridan.
Redshirt junior Nnanna Njoku was out with a stress injury in his left foot. Stress injuries have a general recovery time of four to six weeks retroactive to when it occurred. No other information was shared regarding the injury.
Njoku had his season cut short last year due to a knee injury that required surgery. He was not wearing an air boot or any noticeable protection on his left foot.
Alabama transfer Kris Parker has a right foot toe fracture. The redshirt freshman sat out his first and only year at Alabama. Parker’s fracture also has a general recovery time of four to six weeks retroactive to when it happened. At Hoops Mania, Parker was wearing an air boot on his right foot.
More information will come out soon, but it is something to be aware of. With Hoops Mania occurring earlier this year, it does give over a month of breathing room until the first game of the season against Lafayette.