Villanova’s RobinsonEarl excels all over

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl does a lot of things and plays a lot of positions for the Villanova men’s basketball team.

The 6-9 sophomore is officially listed as a forward, but Wildcats coach Jay Wright has used him at all five sports on the floor. He is equally comfortable inside as outside, and has even played some point guard, though that wasn’t necessarily Wright’s intention.

With sophomore Justin Moore, who starts at shooting guard and is also the backup point, on the bench with two personal fouls when senior point guard Collin Gillespie, an Archbishop Wood graduate, suffered a season-ending torn MCL 6 minutes, 38 seconds prior to halftime in a March 3 game against Creighton, Wright had to make a quick decision.

“They all looked at me like ‘Who’s running the point?’ “Wright recalled during a Wednesday Zoom chat from Indianapolis. “I just said ‘Jeremiah.’ And we had never practiced it and he did an incredible job.”

Wright utilized Robinson-Earl in the same role during the second half of the 72-60 victory over Creighton.

While sophomore Chris Arcidiacono, a Neshaminy grad, has started the last three games in the backcourt and given Wright another viable option at the point, the coach said “we’ve included (Robinson-Earl running the offense) as part of our package.”

“What we loved about him was his versatility,” Wright said. “I would be less than honest if I told you I was thinking about playing him at the point [when he was highly recruited in Overland Park, Kansas]. We probably thought 3 [small forward] through 5 [center] when we got him.”

Robinson-Earl led 18-6 Villanova in scoring average (20 points), rebounds (8.5), assists (6.0) and blocked shots (2.0) during NCAA Tournament double-digit victories over Winthrop and North Texas. He leads ‘Nova in scoring (16 points) and rebounds (8.3) this season.

The fifth-seeded Wildcats will need Robinson-Earl to excel again and perhaps do even more to win their Sweet 16 matchup Saturday (5:15) against top-seeded Baylor (25-2) at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Robinson-Earl, who shared Big East Conference Player of the Year honors with Gillespie and Seton Hall forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, understands the challenge facing the Bears.

“They’re really tough and dynamic,” he said. “They’re a physical team that really gets after it.”