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Big Five Transfer Jhamir Brickus’ Villanova Ties | Meet the Wildcats

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Villanova Wildcats Graduate Guard Jhamir Brickus.

This is one in a series of stories introducing the Villanova Wildcats’ 2024-25 roster.

One of two Villanova transfer portal pickups from the Big Five this past season, the Wildcats poached graduate guard Jhamir Brickus from LaSalle for his fifth and final year of eligibility.

Brickus, a four year starter for the Explorers, hails from Coatesville in Chester County, roughly an hour’s drive away from Villanova campus. He stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 188 pounds, a solid scoring and passing option who can run the point.

He averaged a career best 13.9 points per game last season, also contributing 4.8 assists while making 60 of 150 three-point attempts, a career best rate, and is also prone to hot shooting spells: Brickus cleared the 20-point mark five times last season, including a 41 point outburst against Temple. A three-star recruit out of high school who earned A-10 All-Rookie honors during his freshman season at LaSalle, Brickus didn’t receive so much as an offer from Villanova during his initial recruiting cycle.

That’s not to say he doesn’t have a connection to the Wildcats’ staff: current Villanova assistant coach Ashley Howard served as the Explorers’ head coach for Brickus’ first two seasons in Germantown, a tie that surely helped bring Brickus out on the Main Line.

Stepping Up to the Challenge

The inevitable question regarding Jhamir Brickus landing with the Wildcats is how he’ll manage to navigate the jump from the A-10 to the Big East. He carved out a respectable starting role for himself at LaSalle, averaging 31.6 minutes per night throughout his career with the Explorers, but the expectations at Villanova (even after consecutive down years) are much higher than at a program with just one NCAA Tournament appearance this century.

What can Brickus contribute to Villanova, then? At the risk of using a played-out maxim, Brickus knows the value of hard work, someone who can help bring those values to the Wildcats. Even as a three-star recruit, Brickus received just seven Division 1 offers out of high school, the best of them coming from A-10 schools. Upon entering the portal this past offseason, he didn’t even rank in 247Sports’ transfer rankings, listed without so much as a single star.

Beyond his contributions on the court, Brickus could make an excellent fit for the Wildcats’ culture, a gritty Big Five style guard with solid scoring production. After spending two years together at LaSalle, Howard knows what kind of locker room presence Brickus provides, an inside source who could’ve vetoed the pickup if he didn’t like what he saw.

Brickus has started each of the Wildcats’ 11 nonconference games to begin the 2024-25 campaign, averaging 29.7 minutes per night and tallying 11.5 points and 5.6 assists per game while shooting a torrid 50 percent from beyond the arc. Big East play will prove an even bigger challenge… but so far, he’s shown he’s up to the task.

Career Stats:

Year GP MIN FG% 3% FT% REB AST STL PF TO PTS
20-21* 25 27.1 49.7 32.9 79.4 2.0 3.4 1.8 1.7 2.2 8.8
21-22* 28 28.0 45.0 35.8 64.9 2.6 3.3 0.7 2.0 2.1 8.9
22-23* 33 32.9 47.3 38.2 78.9 2.5 2.8 1.2 1.8 2.2 9.8
23-24* 33 36.5 43.3 40.0 85.7 3.5 4.8 1.2 2.1 2.1 13.9

(* denotes seasons spent with LaSalle Explorers)

 

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