City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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By the time Jay Wright went out to see Collin Gillespie play last season, he was pretty sold on the Archbishop Wood senior.

Assistant coach Ashley Howard gave the 6-foot-3 guard rave reviews after watching him in the summer and the early parts of his senior season.

Archbishop Wood coach John Mosco called Wright and let him know his senior guard, who blew up from a D-II prospect to a high Division I level recruit last season, was a special talent.

Neumann-Goretti forward Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, who was already committed to the Wildcats, told Wright Gillespie was the best guard the Saints had played all year.

But Wright wanted to give the Warminster, Pa. native one more eye-ball test before he was sure.

“We had kind of made the decision he was good enough, but I just had to be there to see it,” Wright said before the season began.

So late last January, Wright went and watched Wood and Gillespie, who had already verbally committed to the Wildcats, take on Neumann-Goretti, Cosby-Roundtree and McDonald’s All-American point guard Quade Green.

Green was good. Gillespie was better.

The eventual Philadelphia Catholic League Player of the Year dropped 42 points as Wood picked up the win.

“It was a no-brainer,” Wright said.

When he walked onto Villanova's campus before this season, Gillespie knew there were minutes to be had if he could carve himself out a role.

The Wildcats had six guys locked into the rotation in Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Eric Paschall, Phil Booth and Omari Spellman as the starters with Donte DiVincenzo the top guy off the bench. After that there weren’t any experienced returning players.

Gillespie averaged 4.4 points and 1.3 assists per game as the second or third guy off the bench during Villanova’s first nine contests.

“I expected as long I play hard, come in defend and rebound, I’ll get minutes,” Gillespie said. “And then just on offense, be confident. They tell me to catch and shoot all the time. Just be solid in everything I do.”

Gillespie fractured his left wrist in practice in early December, missing eight games. He returned to the court a month later against Georgetown on Jan. 17 in the same role as the start of the season.

However, when Booth broke a bone in his shooting hand last week, DiVincenzo slid into the starting lineup and Gillespie became the Wildcats’ sixth man. Gillespie tied a season-high with 19 minutes in Villanova’s win against Marquette on Sunday. He scored three points and added an assist and a steal to go along with two turnovers.

In Thursday's 98-78 win against Creighton, Gillespie had one of his most productive games of the season. He scored eight points and tied a season high with five assists in a career-high 23 minutes as Villanova (21-1, 8-1 Big East) won its eighth straight game.

“He played well against Marquette defensively,” Wright said after the win. “He’s kind of getting his feet wet offensively, but he was really good tonight. I was really proud of him.”

Gillespie checked into Tuesday’s game with 12:46 left in the first half, quickly picking up two assists in his first three minutes of action.

With Villanova up by just three with 7:05 left in the first, Gillespie drilled a 3-point shot to extend Villanova’s lead to six. On Creighton’s next possession, Gillespie drew a charge on Marcus Foster.

The plays seemed to ignite the Wildcats as they went on a 15-0 run.

“He brought the energy,” Bridges said. “I told him during the game, the first half, we were playing off of him. He’s the one who came in here and brought all that energy. He played his tail off today, and we’re going to need him for the rest of the season.”

Next on the schedule for Villanova is a home meeting with Seton Hall on Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center.

With Booth out indefinitely, it looks like Gillespie will play about 20 minutes per game. Despite the bump in playing time, he doesn’t foresee any changes to his role.

“I think it’s the same as when I came off as the seventh or eighth man,” Gillespie said. “Just coming and bringing energy for our team. That’s what my role is on the team. Come in, give energy, do all the little things for our team.”