By MIKE McCURRY
PHILADELPHIA—As a five-star prospect in the Class of 2015, Jalen Brunson nearly settled on Temple, where his father Rick played under the legendary John Chaney.
On Wednesday, Brunson provided Temple yet another tantalizing firsthand glimpse of what could have been had he chosen the Owls.
Brunson erupted for a career-high 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting as No. 1 Villanova, in its first game as the nation’s new top-ranked team, manhandled Temple 87-67 in a romp that was decided within the first couple of media timeouts.
With the victory, the Wildcats are off to an 11-0 start for the fourth time in the last five seasons and have now reeled off 22 straight Big-5 wins by virtue of completing their fifth consecutive sweep in the Philadelphia city series.
In two career games at Temple, Brunson has averaged 28.0 PPG on 74 percent shooting, including a 10-of-15 mark from three. On Wednesday, he also added 6 rebounds and 5 assists without committing a single turnover in 38 immaculate minutes.
Now, just imagine if instead of Brunson tearing up the Liacouras Center as a visitor every other year, the Preseason First Team All-American was playing 15-some-odd games at the venue while donning home whites as opposed to a vitriolic shade of dark blue.
That was almost the case.
Rick Brunson, a former McDonald’s All-American himself, starred for four seasons at Temple before enjoying a nine-year NBA career. Down the road, in one of those conniving-but-not-yet-illegal transactions, Owls’ head coach Fran Dunphy was prepared to hire Rick as an assistant coach with the intention that son would follow father.
As the story goes, the package deal quickly went out the window upon Rick being arrested in June of 2014 for purported sexual assault. (He was later acquitted.) Three months later, Jalen committed to Jay Wright and Villanova.
Wednesday provided Temple fans one last chance to heckle the junior Brunson for his decision, an opportunity that would not go to waste.
Only, it didn’t help. It may have even caused detrimental effects, though Brunson afterward would admit merely that he heard the smack talk, dismissing the notion of a potential motivational factor.
Still, for as deadpan an assassin as they come, the nation’s best point guard could be seen staring at the crowd a moment longer following a few breathtaking plays and could be heard screaming “And oneeeee!” on one particular finish at the rim.
It speaks volumes that his demonstrative roar was able to reverberate throughout the gym. When you’re playing on the road as the No. 1 team in the country, winning the battle of taking the home crowd out of it is the surest route to prevailing in the war.
Brunson took care of that early. He didn’t miss a shot until more than seven minutes in. When he finally did, Eric Paschall corralled the offensive board and kicked it right back out to his leader, who no way in hell was going to miss back-to-back three-pointers. Brunson didn’t. And at that point, it was Villanova 20, Temple 5, with Brunson’s then-point total exceeding the totality of the school he allegedly spurned by 7.
By halftime, Brunson had 22 points as Villanova led 46-29, but the southpaw wasn’t quite ready to call off the dogs. Can you blame him? On the Wildcats’ final possession, he buried a turnaround fadeaway in the face of Nate Pierre-Louis to beat the shot clock.
Asked about Brunson coming out of the gate guns blazing, Jay Wright said, “He could do that every night, but we like to keep our balance.”
Only on this particular night, Villanova uncannily lacked balance.
Phil Booth, who came in averaging 17.3 points on 59% shooting in his previous four games, was bedridden with a virus up until tipoff and finished with just two points. Mikal Bridges, meantime, who has played like an All-American to this point, broke his streak of four straight 20-plus point outings via a season-low 7 points.
So, Brunson had to showcase even more controlled aggression than usual. He did that by nailing in-rhythm three-pointers, getting out in transition and beating opponents down the floor, utilizing the best individual pump fake in America to get defenders off-balance and attack closeouts, and last but not least keeping his eyes locked—not on the crowd, but on the rim.
Mind you, 21 NBA scouts plus Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons (the top player in that same Class of 2015) and coach Brett Brown were among those fortunate enough to witness the 6-2 Brunson, whose season stats reside at 18.5 points on an absurd 63% shooting clip, a 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and an Offensive Rating of 147.4, the third-highest in the country.
“He plays with such great pace,” said Dunphy of Brunson. “He’s so smart, he’s got a great toughness about him.”
To think, that could have been Dunphy describing his own player.
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