Itsumi, Mario Luigi… Suigo.
Three games into his college basketball career, Villanova freshman center Luigi Suigo is already making a pretty convincing case that the Wildcats’ offense should run through him.
The 7-foot-3 Italian fettuccina has put together back-to-back double-doubles, helping head coach Kevin Willard and Co. bounce back from their season-opening loss to Notre Dame with comfortable — and expected — wins over Holy Cross and La Salle.
And while those aren’t exactly the toughest opponents
Nova will face this season, it’s getting pretty difficult to ignore what happens when Willard prioritizes the big guy.
Suigo followed up his 16-point, 15-rebound performance against Holy Cross with 19 points and 12 boards in Tuesday’s 80-59 win over La Salle. He also finished with five assists in each game, because apparently shooting 76.2% from the field wasn’t impressive enough without moonlighting as a 7-foot-3 point guard, too.
Now compare that to his uninspiring debut against the Fighting Irish.
Suigo finished with seven points, five rebounds, zero assists, and three turnovers in Rome, where Villanova blew a 10-point second-half lead in an inexplicable 74-72 loss. He took six shots, and the Cats spent much of the game settling for three-point looks.
It’s hard not to wonder how differently that game might’ve gone with a little more Suigo.
Of course, there’s a pretty significant difference between bullying Holy Cross and La Salle into oblivion and doing the same thing against a former Big East competitor, even though they’re not as competitive as they once were.
But there’s something to be said for finding what works and sticking with it, especially with a roster that’s still figuring itself out after taking a trip to roster turnover city this offseason.
And Suigo’s barely even scratched the surface of his outside shooting yet. A big part of the intrigue surrounding the mountain of a man was that he takes and makes outside shots, so there’s still another part of his game that Villanova hasn’t really tapped into, which should send shivers down Big East spines.
Willard has a 7-foot-3 freshman averaging 17.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, and five assists over his last two games. The competition will get tougher (both Michigan and Kansas are coming up in the non-conference), but the formula seems pretty straightforward: Keep feeding Luigi all the lasagne alla bolognese and cacio e pepe and spaghetti alle vongole, and see how far he can take this team.
