Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels playing for Team USA, which should help Team Villanova | Mike Jensen

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — “More of a leader,’’ Collin Gillespie said under his breath.

The question had been put to his Villanova teammate Jermaine Samuels, what Samuels’ role is this summer as part of a Big East select team that will be Team USA at the Pan American Games in Peru, how it’s different from the one he had last season for the Wildcats.

“Yeah, probably more of a leader,’’ Samuels said, not arguing with Gillespie’s suggestion for an answer.

Gillespie and Samuels started Wednesday night at Providence’s Alumni Hall in an exhibition game against a group of Division I college players put together to provide some competition before the team leaves this week for South America.

Even if the question wasn’t directed at him, Gillespie had it right, in the sense that back home, Villanova is transitioning toward a team on which Gillespie and Samuels and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree (not on this U.S. team) will be the savvy veterans. There is not a single player left at Villanova who took a shot from the field against Michigan in the 2018 NCAA title game. Gillespie had an impact that night in San Antonio, and had four points on free throws. But the shots all were taken by guys who are gone.

If that championship is fully in the history books, it’s important to think of Gillespie as a different player, too. If you want one leader for Villanova, start with him, since he’ll be the one who starts with the ball in his hands.

Separate from the experience of playing for your country, this Pan Am Games experience should help act as a bridge to Villanova’s future. Providence coach Ed Cooley largely put this Big East group together with his assistant Kevin Willard, Seton Hall’s head coach. “We recruited these guys,’’ Cooley said.

Several teams weren’t able to include their players because of summer trips. (So no Marquette players, for instance. No Markus Howard.) The starting backcourt looks to be Gillespie and Seton Hall star Myles Powell, who should be this group’s top scorer.

“He just makes winning plays,’’ Brown coach Mike Martin, another assistant on this team, said of Gillespie. “That’s the first thing that jumps out. … He’s got great habits. He makes winning plays, and he’s a coach on the floor.”

Veteran presence will be crucial in Peru since other countries mostly send national teams full of older guys. Team USA doesn’t go down as the favorite.

The concept of sending players from one league is an interesting one. It’s still an all-star team, guys getting used to each other in a short, short time.

“When you put these all-star teams together, the biggest thing is ego vs. chemistry,’’ Cooley said after the exhibition game. “Everybody on the roster is a go-to guy on their team. I wanted to make sure that the guys felt comfortable with one another. … These players know one another.”

They like Samuels a lot since he’s been playing a stretch-four role and has been shooting it well, Martin said. In Wednesday’s exhibition, Samuels put the ball on the floor a little more. He’s been working on that, he said, creating for himself and teammates. He split one double team and found a teammate for an open three.

“He’s able to guard all the positions,’’ Martin said.

This game, Samuels and Gillespie didn’t do much of the scoring, but combined for six of the Pan Am team’s 12 steals. (Final score: 102-64 for the Big East guys, Powell leading with 18 points.)

The last steal for Gillespie came with a price tag. He had gotten fouled after hitting the floor while forcing a turnover. He put in a free throw, then hit the bench, shaking his left thumb, wincing a bit.

After getting the thumb taped, he was up by his coaches. Was he trying to check himself back in the game?

“The trainer here wanted me to get reps playing with the tape on my hand,’’ Gillespie said. “Then Cooley shut it down, said we’ll see tomorrow in shootaround.”

The thumb had ice wrapped around it after the game.

“It’s fine,’’ Gillespie said. “My thumb pops out every now and then. It’s happened a few times in the summer. I fell on it wrong, came out.”

No big thing.

“It’s fine,’’ Gillespie said. “Every time it happens, I just pull it back in.”

He feels this summer experience is similar to what he should be doing for Villanova.

“With ‘Nova, I’m trying to get everybody their shots, play with the ball in my hands a little bit more with Phil [Booth] gone,’’ Gillespie said. “Being able to create my own shot. With this team, Coach Cooley does a good job of assigning guys roles. We know what we’re supposed to do, and what we have to do to win a gold medal.”

However it plays out over the next couple of weeks in South America, a college team on the Main Line should benefit.