JayVaughn Pinkston knows how lucky he is to be entering his senior season playing basketball for Villanova.
The school suspended the former Bishop Loughlin star for his entire freshman season and the spring semester after he was charged with assault at an off-campus party. Basketball was again nearly taken away from him as a junior — this time through no fault of his own — when Pinkston battled an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, which can be fatal.
Pinkston overcame all of that and is now maturer for it. He is considered a Big East player-of-the-year candidate heading into his final season with the Wildcats, and just as important — is on pace to get his diploma from the prestigious school.
“It’s an accomplishment,” Pinkston said “Coming in, getting in trouble. Having to sit out. Then being able to say that I am about to graduate from Villanova is a great honor.”
He is coming off the best season of his career as a junior. The 6-foot-7, 235-pound forward averaged 14.1 points per game and 6.1 rebounds last year. The Wildcats went 29–5 and won the Big East regular-season title. The stakes are even higher this season, as Villanova was picked to win the conference in the preseason by the league’s coaches, and Pinkston was a preseason first-team selection. He is fine with the early pressure.
“Just having a bull’s-eye, having that target on our back,” Pinkston said, “it means everyone is coming after us and that means you can’t come out relaxed. We always have to have our focus and be ready to play.”
He understands he will be asked to lead more on a Villanova team that lost several key seniors. Pinkston’s agility and strength make him a tough cover in the paint and he says his jump shot has improved. Pinkston can also control the glass for stretches. It’s a challenge he is ready to embrace.
“I think it is my time to step up, and so do my teammates,” he said.
Pinkston is also looking forward to playing the next generation of Brooklyn stars when Lincoln’s Isaiah Whitehead and a fellow former Loughlin guard Khadeen Carrington take the court for Seton Hall this year. It hit home the reality that his career is coming to a close and another generation of players is coming along.
“Khadeen, I saw him a couple of times playing at Loughlin,” Pinkston said. “It’s going to be a fun year playing against the young boys like Isaiah Whitehead and Khadeen. I just can’t wait to get out on the court and get out there and play them.”
When Pinkston does move on, it will be bittersweat. He feels prepared after the life lessons he has learned, and the guidance of Villanova coach Jay Wright.
“You end up seeing both sides, having to work in the real world and being a college basketball athlete,” Pinkston said. “You never want to leave the college life, but you know you have to mature and get old and be prepared for the real world.”
But not before he lives out a few more dreams as a college athlete.
