Former UConn forward and 2004 national champion Charlie Villanueva shared a message of gratitude to close 2023 after he and his wife were apparently rear-ended in an alleged hit-and-run car accident earlier this week.
The seventh overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft posted a series of photos to Instagram on Wednesday showing his damaged Mercedes G Wagon which, he indicated in the comments section, he’d purchased for his wife Lala Alvarez on her birthday not two months earlier.
“One thing we never take for granted is leaving the house and making it back home. If you wondering what happened, my wife and I got hit bad by another car, and the crazy part is that whomever hit me, decided to run,” Villanueva’s caption read. “Sore neck, sore back, messed up car, we are thankful to see another day. Our lives can’t be replaced, but the vehicle can.”
Villanueva did not share when or where the accident occurred.
“To those whom 2023 has been a difficult year, a year of struggle be thankful, and don’t give up, because once you come out of the storm, you’ll see your true power,” his caption continued.
Villanueva earned Big East All-Rookie Team honors after averaging 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds as a freshman reserve for UConn’s 2004 national championship team. He returned to Storrs for his sophomore season and led the Huskies in scoring with 13.6 points and 8.3 rebounds, earning a second-team All-Big East nod.
The Queens, New York native declared for the NBA Draft after his sophomore season and was a first-round selection of the Toronto Raptors, where he spent one season and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team before being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. He averaged 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds over his 11-year career that also featured a five-year stint in Detroit and two years with the Dallas Mavericks. He retired after the 2015-16 season.
Villanueva and the rest of the 2004 national championship team will be honored and inducted into the Huskies of Honor prior to UConn’s Jan. 28 game against Xavier at the XL Center.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at UConn Mens Basketball – Hartford Courant…