NEW YORK, N.Y.– Villanova had an embarrassment of riches at point guard with 2016 NCAA Final Four MVP Ryan Arcidiacono or 2018 national Player of the Year Jalen Brunson.

Collin Gillespie may not be the second coming of those two stars.

But the 6-3 sophomore point guard—whose shooting and defense run hot and cold– stepped up when it counted yesterday, shooting 7 for 15, drilling five threes and scoring 19 points as the top -seeded Wildcats (23-9) poked enough holes in Providence’s zone to get by the Friars, 73-62, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament Thursday afternoon at the Garden.

Villanova has basically been a two-man team most of this season, with 6-8, 230-pound forward Eric Paschal and guard Phil Booth—who was both first team All-Big East selections- doing most of the heavy lifting. Paschall, who is a bad matchup for the Friars, scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, constantly getting to the rim against the Friars. Booth had 13.  

But the Wildcats have found themselves constantly searching for a third option on offense the latter part of the regular season when they won another Big East title but lost four of their previous six games.

Gillespie, who wasn’t even recruited by Jay Wright until the middle of his senior year at Archbishop Wood in the Philadelphia Catholic League, transformed himself from role player who got spot minutes on a national championship team to a starter by constantly outplaying more hyped freshman and McDonald’s All American Jahvon Quinerly in preseason practices.

Gillespie has had his moments—like the 30 points he dropped on Georgetown at the Wells Fargo Center or the 22 he got in Villanova’s loss at Seton Hall the final game of the season. He made the biggest shot of the game when he drained a clutch three coming out of a time out after the Friars tied the game at 44-44 with 9:18 to go.

“They hit a three and we turned the ball over on the next possession,’’ Providence coach Ed Cooley said. “When you play against teams like that, they’re very methodical they’re older. It’s hard to make a comeback like that.’’

There are still questions whether Gillespie is a long-term answer at that position after he shot just 39.6 percent and averaged 10.9 points in conference play and went seven games down the stretch with just nine threes  But no one was questioning his competitive grit against the Friars after Providence (18-15) limited Booth to just 2 for 7 from the three-point line by cheating out toward the three-point line defensively and forced him into six turnovers. Villanova’s freshman forward Siddiq Bay, a Big East All-Rookie selection, did not score, fouling out after just 15 minutes.

“Colin came up huge for us,’’ Wright said.  ‘It wasn’t just the threes, it was the way he got to the paint. He had six assists. He’s a sophomore and we’re kind of treating him like a senior.’’

This is the first time since league realignment in 2014 Wright has brought a relatively inexperienced team to the Garden. The atmosphere in win or go home games at the Big East or the NCAA tournament can be intimidating for players who have never been there before.’

“It’s impactful, man,’’ Wright said. ‘it’s impactful for me now I’ve been here, we don’t need to talk about how long. Still, when you walk on that floor, it’s different. It’s exciting.

“I’ve also seen over the years in this tournament the team that plays the night before, they’re not affected the next day. It’s if they win, it’s the following day. They’re actually at an advantage because they played a game, they’re in a rhythm and we’ve been sitting around for four or five days. So that’s what I was really concerned about, and I thought we did a good job coming out ready to play.’’

Providence was coming off a convincing 80-57 first round victory over Butler in which they shot 60 percent in the second half and made 11 threes. The Friars shot just over 40 percent and made 5 of 20 from beyond the arc. Guard Alpha Diallo, their best player, only got 14 points.

“The highs and lows,’ Cooley said. ‘’Definitely thought we had great energy coming out. I thought we had a great game plan. I thought in the second half, particularly in the last 10 minutes, was kind of what our year has been, up and down, make a shot here, keep it close. We just made too many mistakes and they capitalized on them.’’