Villanova, PA: In sports, there are moments when a player has an injury that takes time off his playing career but does whatever it takes to get back to playing: that is what Villanova’s Justin Moore just went through.
Justin Moore tore his Achilles in the Wildcat’s victory in the Elite 8 and missed the Final Four game, where they fell to Kansas.
Justin made his return on Sunday against Providence at the Wells Fargo Center & the reaction he got showed that Nova Nation missed Justin Moore.
A deafening ovation for the return of Justin Moore 🤯 pic.twitter.com/BkxaYaAgCy
— Tommy Godin (@tommygodinjr) January 29, 2023
Following practice on Tuesday, Moore spoke about how it felt to play in a game after the injury and how cool it was for Brooklyn Nets Kevin Durant to reach out to talk to Justin about the injury.
#Villanova Justin Moore spoke after practice & I asked him about how it felt to play after the injury and talking to #Nets Kevin Durant about the injury#NovaNation pic.twitter.com/lNqC8yrjDd
— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) January 31, 2023
Moore said that he felt sore after playing in his first game & said that it was his decision on when he would come back to play. There was no set date for when he would return.
How would he rate his performance in his first game back from injury?
Justin Moore called his first performance back "impressive".
"I think being able to hold my own out there… and being able to play that many minutes coming off an Achilles injury, not many people could do that. So I'm really proud of myself" – Moore
— Colin Beazley (@colin_beazley) January 31, 2023
Justin was also asked about if he had thought about coming back for another season as he has one more year to use due to the COVID exception. He said it is way too early to be thinking about that.
Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune would talk about having Justin Moore back:
#Villanova Coach Kyle Neptune about having Justin Moore back in the lineup pic.twitter.com/3ineRpC9pk
— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) January 31, 2023
Having Justin Moore back in the lineup will help the Wildcats on the stretch run to get good seeding for the Big East Tournament, which takes place on Wednesday, March 8 through Saturday, March 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Villanova stands at 10-11, (4-6 BIG EAST) and will return to game action on February 1 when they battle Marquette at Fiserv Forum. The game will be at 8:30 PM on FS1.
