clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Villanova Basketball 2020 Player Recap: Caleb Daniels

The redshirt comes off for next year.

NCAA Basketball: Tulane at Temple Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Caleb Daniels’ Career Stats

SEASON TEAM GP GS MIN FG FG% 3PT 3P% FT FT% OR DR REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS
SEASON TEAM GP GS MIN FG FG% 3PT 3P% FT FT% OR DR REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS
2017-18 Tulane 30 0 18.3 2.0-4.7 42.9 0.7-1.8 39.6 1.7-2.2 80 0.7 1.5 2.2 1.5 0.3 0.2 2.7 1.2 6.4
2018-19 Tulane 30 30 33.9 5.8-13.0 44.5 1.6-4.5 34.6 3.7-5.4 68.7 1.4 3.9 5.3 3.3 0.3 0.8 2.9 2.9 16.9
2019-20 Villanova REDSHIRT

The Breakdown

There wasn’t much to see from Caleb Daniels this year, as everything remained behind closed doors of the practice gym.

However, we did get to see a glimpse of the Tulane import at the pre-season Blue-White scrimmage. Of course, it doesn’t stack up to a real game, but between that and his two years of work at Tulane, there’s more than enough to dissect and get optimistic for.

Our own Brendan Reilly wrote this about Daniels after the annual October scrimmage, where the redshirt transfer scored 18 points, right behind Saddiq Bey and Cole Swider who had a team-high 21 points apiece:

“If Bey was the most impressive player of the night, Daniels was easily the most impressive newcomer. He was making plays all over the court on both offense and defense. He was scoring at the rim, mid-range, and beyond the arc. On defense he was disruptive and even had a block on freshman Justin Moore. Just an overall great game from the transfer.”

“Granted, he’s heading into what would be his Junior season, so he had as much or more experience than anybody on the court. But still, his performance was enough for Jay to joke after the game about getting a waiver for him to play this season. Without any strong candidates in Villanova’s 2020 recruiting class, Daniels looks like he’ll easily be the best new player on next year’s team.”

Looking Ahead

Looks like we’ve got sixth starter or official starter roles for Daniels to fulfill. The chatter through the grapevine all suggest positive things about Daniels, and it helps that he’s already soaked in a lot of collegiate action before coming over to the Main Line. Now, add in a year in the Villanova Wildcats’ system, and the optimism grows even larger.

He’ll have two years of eligibility ahead of him. Even though his last season at Tulane was an ugly one for the entire Green Wave—4-27 overall record, winless in conference play—Daniels was a bright spot all throughout that 2018-19 campaign.

He was a do-it-all type of player at Tulane, and at various points through the season, he singlehandedly carried the Green Wave.

Despite being the the focal point of opposing defenses, Daniels seemed to always find a way to score or make good plays.

At Villanova, he’ll get to relax in the sense that he won’t need to shoulder the load for 10 other guys on the team. With a lot more talent around him, he can focus on doing his part.

Whatever his role may be, there’s optimism for Daniels and a lot of curiosity for 2020-21 to see what he brings to the court once the redshirt comes off.