Immediately after playing less than one minute and not recording a statistic Tuesday in Villanova's 78-75 loss to Big 5 foe Penn, Wildcats freshman Jahvon Quinerly took to Instagram to express his frustration by posting a story that read, "Was my 2nd choice for a reason."
Quinerly quickly deleted the post referencing why he originally committed to Arizona over Villanova, but it went viral after being screengrabbed by one of his 450,000 followers. He then had suspicious posts crop up on his feed throughout the night in what some believed to be a hack/fake hack that could potentially serve as cover for his story. Those posts have since been deleted.
Whether it was a hack or not, the comment about Villanova being his second choice led to an apology from the former five-star guard out of New Jersey, according to Wildcats coach Jay Wright. Wright, who addressed the situation on Wednesday, saying it was a "good teaching moment."
"He was emotional about playing time and then he took [the post] down immediately, apologized," Wright said via The Philadelphia Inquirer. "Today, we talked about it, and he feels really bad about it. It's a learning experience. We all know he's a good kid, so it's not an issue that concerns us. We accept his apology."
Quinerly also issued a public apology on social media on Thursday.
— Jahvon Quinerly (@RealJahvonQ) December 13, 2018
Quinerly had high expectations coming into this season for Villanova. With a five-star pedigree and a viral social media feed on his side, he brought the skill set many believed would make him capable to replace Jalen Brunson at the point guard spot for the reigning national champions.
But the fit for Quinerly, and the opportunity, just hasn't been there yet. He's logging only 8.6 minutes, 2.4 points, 1.0 assists and 1.4 turnovers per game this season, and has logged three DNP's in 11 games as he's battled injuries off-and-on.
Because of Quinerly's previously projected impact, there's understandably some questions that have been raised about whether he's long for 'Nova or whether a new spot may suit him better. But Wright, despite Quinerly's erratic Instagram feed, maintains that his freshman guard is happy and that there's no cause for concern about him leaving the program for greener pastures.
"You always worry about that, but I don't worry about that in his case, I really don't," Wright said. "You worry about all the kids. You want to make sure everybody's happy. Jahvon wants to play more, but he's very happy at Villanova."
The Wildcats are 8-3 on the season and face No. 1 Kansas on Saturday.