’Nova’s Samuels, Gillespie uncertain whether it’s home finale

Jermaine Samuels isn’t sure what his emotional state will be when he steps on the Pavilion floor for possibly the last time in a Villanova uniform Wednesday night.

“It’s something I try not to think about,” Samuels said after practice Tuesday. “It’s been a long four years, but I guess we’ll see when we get there.”

There is the possibility that it may not be the last time Samuels or fellow seniors Collin Gillespie, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and

Kevin Hoehn appear in uniform, when the 10th-ranked Wildcats (15-4 overall, 10-3 Big East) take on No. 14 Creighton (17-6, 13-5) at 8:30, in a game that could decide the Big East regular-season title.

Back in October, the NCAA announced that it was granting an extra year of eligibility to winter sports athletes due to the coronavirus pandemic. Samuels and Gillespie were non-committal about whether they would take advantage of that opportunity.

“It’s always a possibility,” Samuels said, “but my main concern is focusing on this season and seeing what happens after the season. Right now

I’m just trying to live in the moment.”

“We’re just taking care of business this year and focusing on our next game against Creighton and worry about strictly this year,” Gillespie added.

That’s a subject Samuels and Gilliespie will broach after the season.

“We purposely did not talk about that,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “We always talk to our players about being in the here now. We always tell them just concentrate on one day at a time and the NBA and post-grad, we can deal with that when the season’s over. But enjoy your senior year. Don’t let all those decisions creep into your senior year. You only get to do this once.”

Either way, this senior night celebration will be different than in years past. Usually, the ceremony takes place in front of a packed house and includes staff members, managers and cheerleaders on the floor. This year it will just be the players and their parents.

“It’s kind of sad, really, that we can’t do more for the guys,” Wright said. “But I really appreciate our athletic director Mark Jackson went out of his way that we can at least get parents in here for senior night.”

The families of Samuels and Gillespie will get the chance to see their sons possibly win another Big

East regular-season title. The Wilcats can clinch their seventh regular-season crown in the last eight years and sixth outright with a victory. That won’t be easy. Creighton pinned an 86-70 loss on the Wildcats back on Feb. 13. The Bluejays shot nearly 60 percent that day overall and 46 percent from 3-point range.

“They handled us pretty easily out there the last time,” Wright said. “I thought we had some lessons learned from that. We kind of slipped up defensively (Sunday) against Butler and I hope we can make some adjustments here ... and and try to slow them down.”