PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Harold Jensen was a basketball star at Villanova University and a key member of the 1985 team that shocked Georgetown to win the first national championship in program history.
Jensen was a sophomore on the 1985 team. Georgetown was a dominant force, but the Wildcats played them incredibly tough during the regular season in two close losses.
However, Villanova had very few answers for Saint John's, the team that Georgetown played in the Final Four. Jensen said they absolutely knew which team they would prefer to play in the title game.
"Without a doubt, every one of us was pulling for Georgetown. It was that simple. We just looked at the match-ups and thought, 'We got a shot.' If they win, we know what we're up against," he said. "I think in our scenario, even being a nine or 10-point underdog, whatever we were in that game, we knew what we were up against and that was a huge advantage for us."
Jensen came off the bench for head coach Rollie Massimino, and coming off the bench can be tough for a player who specializes in perimeter shooting, like Jensen.
However, he had some tricks he used to try to stay on point as he waited to get into a game, like washing his hands with very hot water beforehand.
"We would go through warmups and we would go back into the locker room and then come out with like a minute or two left in warmups, usually," he recalled.
"When I ran back in there, I would wash my hands with super hot water, almost to the point that they were in pain, but it made them kind of sticky and it gave you a better grip on the ball."
You can listen to the entire interview with Harold Jensen by checking out the latest episode, above, of the KYW Newsradio original podcast, "1-on-1 with Matt Leon." Subscribe on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.
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