Villanova Knicks Appear on The Tonight Show

The Villanova Knicks appeared on “The Tonight Show” alongside Jimmy Fallon after winning the 2026 NBA Finals, introducing themselves to their national audience as they broke down their path to a championship.

Fallon, a lifelong New Yorker and Knicks fan himself, already has a rapport with players like Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson; Fallon often makes courtside appearances at Knicks games, while Brunson and Hart weren’t making their first appearance on the late-night show. Their established rapport — especially for a jokester like Hart — blended seamlessly with the comedian’s schtick; Fallon even played a role in the Knicks’ championship win, to hear them tell it, with Hart going out of his way to untie Fallon’s shoes each time they ran into each other courtside.

“When I’m on the court, I’m locked in,” Hart said of the prank, “but once I step off the court, I like just having fun. So I saw you and I was just like ‘you know what, let me mess with Jimmy a little bit.”

Hart, for his part, insisted that Fallon and his viewers refer to him exclusively as ‘champ’ from now on.

Fellow Villanova and Knicks champion Mikal Bridges also appeared on the segment, recounting how he first got to know Hart on the Main Line.

“You want the truth?” Bridges said with a smile. “Josh was a bully. But after the bullying stage, we got real close, so I can appreciate the bullying a little bit.”

Given an opportunity to defend himself, Hart came clean.

“I was a little bit of a bully, I think,” Hart said. “I pushed him to the ground one time in practice and then he was mad at me, then I texted him after that.”

Hard Work Pays Off

Brunson, for his part, fielded a question about his relationship with his father Rick, who also took part in an NBA Finals run with New York during the 1999 season. While Rick Brunson was never more than a bench player in the NBA, he taught his son how to excel, turning Jalen Brunson into a champion at the collegiate and professional levels.

Brunson, who won the Bill Russell Award as Finals MVP, used the segment to describe the value of hard work. 

“It was everything I dreamed of, it’s all the times we had together,” Brunson said. “You focus on just the little things, and you’d be surprised at what happens when you just put all your energy into little details that actually matter.” 

You can watch the segments below.