‘We’re getting him there’: Jordan Longino ready to make the sophomore leap for Villanova

Villanova guard Caleb Daniels said the battles between Jordan Longino and Brandon Slater in practice are like watching “two bumper cars” go at it.

“It’s just two people constantly colliding,” says Slater, a fifth-year forward who says Longino, works harder than anyone on the team.

Longino, a sophomore guard, had a nice laugh during an interview recently when hearing about how Daniels phrased the practice battles.

“Our practices,” Longino said, “I don’t want to say they’re like football practice … but the physicality and the toughness we all play with in practice prepares us because we’re not going to see anyone play harder than us in games.

“They don’t call a lot of fouls in practice. So I think that’s where the bumper cars analogy came about, but it all helps when you get into the game.”

Longino got into games last year as a freshman, earning time in a program in which minutes for first-year players are sometimes hard to come by. But the story of Longino’s freshman year was injuries. He was slowed at the start of the season, and then, when he thought he was finally starting to find his footing, he suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee the day before Villanova was to head to Pittsburgh for the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

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Longino, who averaged 1.8 points and 8.6 minutes per game in 26 games, missed the team’s run to the Final Four.

As things currently stand, Longino, a 20-year-old Germantown Academy grad, will probably have a bigger role than anyone thought to start the 2022-23 season under new coach Kyle Neptune, who recruited Longino to Villanova before leaving to coach Fordham for one season

The Wildcats are still without guard Justin Moore after he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in March, and top freshman Cam Whitmore, a projected lottery pick in next year’s NBA draft, had thumb surgery in early October and will miss the start of the season.

Given Longino’s size (6-foot-5) and his versatility — he can guard multiple positions — Villanova figures to rely on him to play a supporting role to the trio of Daniels, Slater, and forward Eric Dixon.

“He’s getting more and more prepared every single day,” Daniels said.

“He’s a talented player that can bring a lot to the table,” Moore said. “It’s just about him bringing it every day in practice, consistency, and maturing. He’s a young man, he’s still maturing about how serious his game really is and not taking it for granted. We’re getting him there.”

Older guys like Moore, Daniels, Dixon, and Slater have helped in the year-plus that Longino has been on campus. The now-graduated Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels were pretty instrumental, too.

Longino said the time off the court helped him. While he missed time away from practices and games, he had a “bird’s-eye” view of what was going on. He watched a lot of film. Initially, he said he leaned on the upperclassmen and his family to get him through the tough times. Surgery prevented him from going to the Regional final weekend, so he was a spectator on the couch at home watching his teammates beat Michigan and then Houston.

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Being at the Final Four, he said, allowed him to soak up the atmosphere and see what it was like to play on that stage without actually playing.

But after that, it was back to the grind. He took four weeks off after surgery and credits Villanova head trainer Dan Erickson and strength coach John Shackleton with helping him get back into shape.

Now, he’s ready for whatever comes next, armed with those experiences on and off the court. Those give him an edge, Moore said.

“I’ve talked to him a lot about that because I was in the same position, playing as a freshman,” Moore said. “If you’re able to play that young, you can speed up the process. … Why not take that step sophomore year? Talent-wise, he’s there. It’s just mentally getting him there. He’ll get there.”

If he’s not already. Asked about how crucial the older players on this year’s roster and last were in getting him prepared, Longino said he takes “their advice and their teachings very seriously and takes them to heart.”

He’s ready to do more with it, too.

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“I think that’s my next step, becoming a leader and trying to lead the younger guys and the freshmen, [to] take the advice I got from the older guys and pass it on to them,” Longino said. “That’s what our program is built on, older guys teaching younger guys, and then those younger guys, when everyone files out, they teach the next group of younger guys.”

It’s the seemingly never-ending cycle of Villanova basketball, and Longino is one of the next guys up.