Darrun Hilliard

Darrun Hilliard
No. 4 – Villanova Wildcats
Position Guard
League Big East Conference
Personal information
Born April 13, 1993
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight 215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school Liberty (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)
College Villanova (2011–present)
Career highlights and awards

Darrun Hilliard (born April 13, 1993) is an American college basketball player from Pennsylvania. He is currently in his senior season, playing for the Villanova Wildcats and coach Jay Wright.

Early life and high school career

Hilliard was born on April 13, 1993 to Charlene Jenkins and Darrun Hilliard.[1] His mother is a representative for an insurance company.[2] His father played basketball at the high school level and first introduced his son to the sport when he was five years old. The younger Hilliard also played football growing up, but preferred basketball.[3]

Hilliard attended Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he was a two-time Associated Press first-team selection.[2] As a junior, he averaged 18 points and six rebounds per game and shot 52 percent from the field. Hilliard led the Hurricanes to PIAA state semifinals, where Liberty lost to Penn Wood. In the loss to Penn Wood, Hilliard had 26 points. He was named Morning Call player of the year as a junior.[4] In addition, he was selected to the First Team Class AAAA.[5]

Hilliard averaged 19.7 points per game as a senior.[1] He was named Express-Times player of the year after leading the Hurricanes to the second round of the PIAA playoffs. Hilliard scored 1,413 points in his high school career, finishing second in Liberty history to Warren West.[3] He committed to Villanova in November 2010.[6] When Hilliard informed his mother he was receiving a full scholarship to Villanova, she did not understand and was trying to figure how much she would have to pay for her son's education.[2]

College Career

Freshman

Villanova coach Jay Wright considered redshirting Hilliard in his freshman season, but Wright decided against it after a rash of injuries to his players. As a freshman, Hilliard averaged 4.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 18.1 minutes in 29 games and shot 29.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc. He said, "Freshman year was probably my toughest year of basketball," due to difficulties in adjusting to a new coach and teammates.[6]

Sophomore

In his sophomore season (2012-13), he averaged 11.4 points in just under 30 minutes a game. This proved to be his breakout season and he would go on to start all 34 games that year. He helped Villanova defeat a few top five teams that season. In a comeback win over #5 Louisville on January 22nd, he made a 3-point play which helped spark the rally. In a 75-71 overtime victory over #3 Syracuse on January 26th, 2013, he set career highs in points (25), rebounds (7), assists (6), field goals (8), and minutes (38). He also helped them beat then #5 Georgetown on March 6th by the score of 67-57. In that game, he had 14 points, got three steals and made a critical three-pointer with 5:42 left in the second half. In the 2013 NCAA Tournament, Hilliard had a strong showing in a 78-71 loss to North Carolina, going 8-for-15 from the field and scoring 18 points in 36 minutes.

Junior

Hilliard improved in most offensive categories in the 2013-14 season, his junior year. He averaged 14.3 points per game that season and improved his three-point shooting percentage to 41.4 percent (up from 31.5 percent the year before). He made 70 three-pointers that year out of 169 attempts. During the Big East season, he averaged 15.1 points per game in eighteen conference games. Hilliard scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting against Marquette in a 94-85 victory on January 25th. In an 82-79 win over Providence, he set a new career high in minutes played (43). In a 73-56 win over Marquette on March 2 at the Wells Fargo Center, he established a new career high with 26 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.

In the 2014 NCAA Tournament that season, Villanova lost to eventual national champion Connecticut in the third round. After scoring 16 points to help Villanova get past Milwaukee, Hilliard added 13 points and grabbed five rebounds in the 77-65 loss to Uconn. He has averaged 15.7 points per game in three NCAA Tournament games so far in his career. He joined teammate Ryan Arcidiacono on the All-Big 5 Second Team.[7]

Senior

So far in the 2014-15 season, Hilliard has averaged 13.4 points per game. Villanova has been ranked in the top ten for most of the season thanks to a balanced offense. Against Creighton on January 25th he scored 24 and made 6-of-10 three-pointers in a 71-50 victory at home. He also scored 23 earlier in the year (December 20th) in an overtime victory over Syracuse, hitting 9-of-17 shots.

On February 14th, in a 78-75 victory over Butler, Hilliard scored a career-high 31 points and also set a career high with 8 three-pointers made out of 13 attempts. He also hit the game-winning three-pointer with 1.2 seconds to play in the game. Eight of his nine field goals in that game were three-pointers. Villanova remained alone in first place in the Big East with the win, avoiding falling into a tie atop the league with Butler.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "4 - Darrun Hilliard". Villanova Wildcats. Villanova University. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Smallwood, John (May 12, 2013). "Villanova's Hilliard thinks every day should be Mother's Day". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hinkel, Tom (March 29, 2011). "Liberty High School's Darrun Hilliard repeats as Boys Basketball Player of the Year". The Express-Times. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  4. ↑ Groller, Keith (April 2, 2010). "Liberty's Darrun Hilliard is The Morning Call's boys player of the year". The Morning Call. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Liberty High School's Darrun Hilliard named first team all-state; Chad Landis is Class AAAA co-coach of the year". The Express-Times. April 7, 2010. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Housenick, Tom (November 12, 2014). "It will be an emotional homecoming for Villanova's Darrun Hilliard, a Liberty High product". The Morning Call. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  7. ↑ Jensen, Mike (April 15, 2014). "Big Five Hall of Famers honored with current stars". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved April 15, 2014.

External links