Samuels’ strong effort helps put Villanova in the pink

Jermaine Samuels was playing. That was never a question in his mind.

It didn’t matter to the 6-foot-7 senior forward that he did not practice all week with his Villanova teammates due to a sprained pinky finger on his right (shooting) hand. Nor was he concerned that to play, he would have to do so with a splint fashioned by trainer Shawn Keane.

He was not missing Sunday’s road showdown with No. 17 Texas.

“I was going to play regardless,” Samuels said.

There he was in the starting lineup, played 32 minutes and scoring eight points, pulling down 12 rebounds and handing out three assists, as the 12th-ranked Wildcats held on for a 68-64 vic

tory over the Longhorns at the Frank Erwin Center.

“It felt good,” Samuels said of the finger. “I’ve been working on getting it better the whole week. So when I knew it was game time I knew I was going to go out there and just give it up for my teammates and play Villanova basketball. That was the No. 1 thing on my mind. Nothing else really mattered to me, to be honest.”

Samuels d id s t r u ggle with his shot (2-for-7, 0-for-2 from 3-point range) but he was 4-for-6 from the free throw line and had both of his baskets and two of his three assists in the second half.

“To have a sprained finger and come up with 12 rebounds is courageous,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “I’m really proud of him.”

Behind Samuels, and sophomore Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and redshirt freshman Eric Dixon, the Wildcats were able to battle a taller, deeper Texas front of Greg Brown, Jericho Sims, Royce Hamm Jr. and Kai Jones to a draw. That quartet came into the game averaging 28 points and 24 rebounds a game for the Longhorns (4-1). They combined for 25 points and 19 boards against the Wildcats (4-1).

Villanova won the overall battle on the boards, 34-33, and had an 8-7 edge on the offensive glass. That performance limited Texas to six second-chance points. The Longhorns came into the game averaging better than 11.25 offensive rebounds and 13.25 secondchance points per game.

“Holding them to seven offensive rebounds, believe it or not, was really good,” Wright said. “That was a great effort on our part.”

Robinson-Earl finished with 19 points to tie Justin Moore for game-high honors, and pulled down eight boards to keep the Texas bigs at bay.

“We were just being solid and unselfish,” RobinsonEarl said. “I just felt like those were some key things. We were battling out there together. We had a great week of practice going into this game. Eric Dixon, who I always give praise to ... because he’s a bully in practice, I feel like he makes the games a lot easier going into them, but it’s just a whole team effort on the inside.”

Samuels was at his best with the game on the line. He found Robinson-Earl for a dunk and a 62-57 lead with 1:40 to play and then scored on a driving layup with 30 seconds remaining to push Villanova’s lead to 64-60. He also had two of his eight defensive rebounds in the final two minutes.

Guard Collin Gillespie came up big in the clutch, too. He overcame early foul trouble to finish with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. Gillespie did not have a field goal in the second half, but he had four crucial free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal the victory.

“Jermaine and Collin were outstanding,” Wright said. “Collin hit the free throws down the stretch and Jermaine came up with big-time defensive rebounds. And Jermaine (came up) with some bigtime drives at the end of the shot clock. You know we always rely on our seniors and I thought those two were outstanding today.”