Villanova crushes Spanish Select Team by 40 in return to court

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Villanova's men's basketball team, playing for the first time since beating North Carolina in the National Championship Game on April 4, destroyed a Spanish Select Team, 89-49, Friday in Badalona.

Josh Hart led the way with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the first of three games the Wildcats will play in Spain in the coming days. (The next two are Sunday and Tuesday in Madrid.)

"That was a great start for us," head coach Jay Wright said in a statement. "I thought we received outstanding leadership from Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins. Those guys got the team ready to play and that was important. We had a group of younger guys that were kind of playing for us for the first time and our seniors did a great job of showing the kind of concentration and focus you need to bring each day."

Sophomore point guard Jalen Brunson, who will take the reins from Ryan Arcidiacono (now with the San Antonio Spurs), had 15 points and five rebounds. Fellow soph Mikal Bridges had 12 points, four rebounds and three steals.

Freshman Omari Spellman, Villanova's top recruit, did not play in the game. He is practicing with the team in Spain but has not yet been cleared by the NCAA to play in games.

Another newcomer, sophomore forward Eric Paschall, impressed with nine points (on 4 for 4 shooting) and seven rebounds. Paschall sat out last season after transferring to Villanova from Fordham, where he won Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year in 2014-15. 

"We played against Division II professional players and did a good job," Wright said. "We'll get an even tougher test in Madrid when we see Division I professional players."

Injuries
Senior forward Darryl Reynolds did not make the trip after bruising his sternum in practice last week. 

Redshirt freshman Donte DiVincenzo had six points and seven rebounds in Friday's win before exiting in the third quarter with a sprained left ankle.

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