Philly Native Wooga Poplar a Transfer Portal Coup | Meet the Wildcats

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

A Philadelphia native who spent three years with the Miami Hurricanes, Wooga Poplar hit the transfer portal ahead of his senior season and decided to spend his final year of eligibility back home in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Wooga is his nickname: for those familiar with Philadelphia basketball recruiting, you might remember him by his given name, Nisine, which he went by while at Center City’s Math, Civics and Sciences Charter. Rated as a four-star while playing for the Mighty Elephants (who he led to a state title during his sophomore season), Poplar put himself on the recruiting map in a big way after averaging 21.2 points per game during his junior season, receiving a flurry of offers from programs including (to name but a handful) LSU, St. John’s, Marquette and Georgetown. Villanova, notably, didn’t make much of a push for Poplar’s services, but that changed after he put together a strong career with the Hurricanes.

A 6-foot-5, 197 pound wing, Poplar never redshirted while in Miami, scratching out 8.6 minutes per night during his true freshman season before starting 36 of 37 games for a Hurricanes team that made the Final Four in 2023.

Constant Improvement

He enjoyed his best statistical season last year, averaging 13.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Although officially recruited as a combo guard, he’s more of a shooter than a facilitator, possessing a career assist to turnover ratio of 1.3 to 1.2.

Poplar’s scoring surge came with a renewed effort from beyond the arc, from where he took more than half of his shots, converting 38.5 percent of the time. He averaged more than 17.4 points per game during the first two months of the season before an ankle injury forced him to miss two games… and hampered his athleticism down the stretch.

Wooga Poplar weighed his options following the conclusion of the Hurricanes’ 2023-24 season, floating his name up for the NBA draft — where he would’ve been a likely second round pick — and entering the transfer portal. Ranked as the No. 16 overall player in the transfer portal, Poplar decided to return to college for his senior year, and the Wildcats emerged victorious in an intense recruiting cycle that lasted into June and saw them outcompete Kentucky, Arkansas, TCU, Auburn, Louisville, and Kansas.

Through the conclusion of Villanova’s nonconference schedule, Wooga Poplar is averaging 29 minutes per night and has started 10 of 11 games played, the lone exception being the Wildcats’ Nov. 19 win over Penn, when he was held out of the starting lineup for showing up late to a team meeting. He’s putting up 13.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per night, still taking the majority of his shots from three as a strong (if streaky) secondary scoring option behind Eric Dixon.

Career Stats: