Painter’s expedited growth plan reaping benefits

Sometime before preseason practice officially began, Dylan Painter and Jay Wright had “the talk.”

The where and when does not matter, the only important fact is that Painter and Wright did have a discussion where the R-word was used.

“Yeah, we talked about redshirting,” Painter said.

That was before Omari Spellman’s issue with the NCAA and Phil Booth’s knee problems. Once Spellman was told he had to sit out as an academic redshirt, and Booth was sidelined with soreness and swelling in his left knee, sitting out the season as a red-shirt was no option for Painter, no matter how raw the 6-foot-10 freshman was.

The Wildcats needed bodies and Painter was one of the few healthy ones available.

“I didn’t really have high expectations,” Painter said. “Once I got here I was just going to work hard and try to find my way.”

Whatever time Painter saw was limited, a minute here or a minute there or sometimes not at all. He did not play in 11 of Villanova’s first 24 games, but that all changed when 6-9 senior Darryl Reynolds was sidelined for five games with a rib injury.

With only six healthy bodies, however, Wright had no choice. He had to put Painter into the rotation and the rookie came through.

Painter had career highs in points (10), rebounds (six) and minutes (22) Thursday as the second-ranked and top-seeded Wildcats blasted St. John’s, 108-67, in the quarterfinal round of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Painter matched his point total for the season as the Wildcats set a program record for points in a game and tied the Big East Tournament record for largest margin of victory. It also was the second most points scored in regulation in tournament history.

“I just feel more and more comfortable every game I’m out there,” Painter said. “I’m not asked to do much on offense or anything. I just know I have to go in there and play as hard as I can on defense and rebound the ball. If I do that they’re happy.”

Painter was referring to the coaching staff, which was delighted with his performance. So was senior Josh Hart, the Most Valuable Player in the Big East Conference. Painter’s work down low helped the Wildcats dominate the boards (34-20) and enjoy a 3416 advantage in points in the paint and a 12-5 edge in second-chance points and bench scoring (52-26).

“He played great today,” Hart said of Painter. “He was the anchor in our zone and he played his butt off offensively. My man got double digits today, but he played hard. It was a great game out of him to play that much; to get that experience. It’s tough right now for our freshmen. We’re not practicing very much so the reps are limited. So for him to get out there and play 21 minutes as a freshman late in the year getting good, hard game reps it’s going to pay off for him.”

Painter’s development has allowed Villanova coach Jay Wright to experiment with some interesting lineups. At one point he had Painter on the floor with Reynolds (6-9, 245), Eric Paschall (6-7, 250), Hart (6-5, 215) and Donte DiVincenzo (6-5, 205).

“We haven’t been able to play big like that since last year,” Hart said.

••• Villanova will play Seton Hall Friday for the third time in the last four conference tournament years. The Pirates have won the previous two meetings. Seton Hall upset the top-seeded Wildcats, 64-63, in the first round in 2014 and downed Villanova in the championship game last year, 6967. Seton Hall leads the all-time tournament series, 3-2. … Villanova had six players in double figures for the third time this season. The Wildcats also accomplished the feat in back-to-back Big 5 games against Penn and Saint Joseph’s . ... The 108 points were the most by the Wildcats since they put 114 on Redlands in 2003 and marked the 13th time a Jay Wright team at Villanova has scored 100 points in a game.