NEW YORK– The closest Collin Gillespie got to the Big East tournament in 2021 was the TV set in his hospital room.
Villanova’s gritty 6-3 fifth year senior point guard underwent knee surgery the day before Villanova’s stunning 71-70 quarterfinal loss to Georgetown, helpless to contribute. He watched post season from the stands. .
This year, Gillespie was determined to make up for lost time.
He scored 17 points grabbed 7 rebounds and contributed 5 assists to win the Dave Gavitt Trophy as the MVP of the Big East tournament as the eighth ranked Cats defeated fourth seed Creighton, 54-48, in the championship game at a sold- out Garden’
“This is why I came back,” he said.
Gillespie saved his best for last, making back- to- back three- point jumpers late in the game, hitting the go ahead three over the outstretched arm of 7-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner, the Big East defensive player of the Year, with 2:44 left. then he grabbed a rebound at the other end and came right back and drained another jumper over Kalkbrenner for a 50-45 lead– sending the Cats (26-7) to another championship under Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright.
“I’m kind of surprised when he makes those plays,” Wright said. “It’s incredible. But we put the ball in his hands to make those plays.”
This is the program Wright has built since he arrived on the Philadelphia Main Line 21 years ago-players like Kris Jenkins, Donte DeVincenzo and Gillespie making clutch shots in March.
And it is why Villanova will be a dangerous team as the NCAA tournament gets underway this week. The Cats are a 2 seed, playing in the Southern Region. They open sub-region play Friday against 15 seed CAA champion Delawares wehre they ability to make threes should be too much for the Blue Hens, then draw either Loyola Chicago or Ohio State in the second round if they win. Then, they have the possibility of playing a rematch against third seed SEC champion Tennessee– a team they defeated by 18 earlier this season on a neutrral site– .in a Sweet 16 game in San Antonio. The seed in the region is PAC 12 champ Arizona.
The Cats may not have a classic rim protector, but if they get on a roll, they are hard to deal with. They never turn the ball over and are lethal from the line, making over 80 percent on the season.
Villanova has dominated this reinvented league– winning the tournament in 2015, and then three straight tournaments from 2017-19. The school also captured two national titles in 2016 and 2018.
Guard Justin Moore, who was injured in the first half of last year’s Georgetown loss, contributed 16 points in a game where neither team shot well. He and the rest of the Villanova started surrounded Gillespie, juicing him up before he went to the line in the closing seconds. Gillespie drained both free throws and was mobbed by his teammates as the buzzer sounded.
“He’s just playing with absolutely no fear because he knows he’s put in the work,” Wright said.
Villanova had to work hard to win this tournament. they rallied from down 17 to defeat St. John’s 66-65. They squeezed out a 63-60 win over UConn. And they overcame a night when they scored only 19 points in the first half and shot just 8 for 32 from the three- point arc because Gillespie couldn’t allow them to lose.
“At the end, we got Gillespied,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said.
Gillespie, a two-time Big East Player of the Year, is arguably the best point guard in the country, even though that wasn’t necessarily reflected in the AP All American team, where he was only third team. But disrepect Gilespie at your own risk. He ranks right up there with Jalen Brunson as Wright’s best decision maker ever. He has great leadership sklils and loves the big moment. And he is an ultimate competitor.
