Practice? Villanova’s Jermaine Samuels didn’t need practice. | Mike Jensen

Maybe the rest of it didn’t make sense, but this did: The two Villanova players who had gotten COVID-19, and had just gotten back for one practice, didn’t start Tuesday against Seton Hall. Jermaine Samuels and Caleb Daniels, normally out there for the opening tip, came off the bench. Logical.

The rest of it, crazy. Samuels came off the bench, but rarely went back to it. Maybe not playing for a month and practicing just once in the last couple of weeks … all overrated, if you were simply watching this one player.

“I’m just … I am truly amazed at Jermaine Samuels,” Jay Wright said after Villanova, playing its first game in 27 days, had gotten past Seton Hall, 76-74, at Finneran Pavilion. “He literally practiced one day, had COVID, couldn’t practice until yesterday. To come out and be able to play like that is incredible.”

Like what? How about 32 minutes, 20 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 0 turnovers. Samuels had made just four three-pointers through Villanova’s first nine games. Tuesday, Samuels tried three three-pointers, made ‘em all.

Villanova point guard Collin Gillespie went for the same word as his coach.

“That was pretty incredible, honestly,” said Gillespie, mentioning that simulating game conditioning is the hardest part of being out so long. “I don’t know how he did that.”

The senior forward has had all sorts of career highlights. A dagger last season against Connecticut, a game-winner to get Villanova past No. 1 Kansas, five three-pointers and 29 points two seasons back against Marquette, some Samuels’ threes the difference in his sophomore season against Temple.

You’re talking about a ballplayer who does not let circumstances dictate his performance. Not talking about rising above so much as taking it completely outside of that. Just play ball.

Samuels isn’t a future NBA lottery pick. He has a professional future, but we don’t know in what country. That shot often goes cold as quickly as it heats up. He isn’t (yet) in the pantheon of recent Villanova players from NCAA Tournament heroics. Yet when it comes to those spouted cliches you hear coming out of the Main Line about “playing Villanova basketball” and “attitude” and all the rest, Jermaine Samuels defines it all as well as anybody.

“I’m proud of him, and I truly am amazed,” Wright said later. “To be out two weeks and practice one day and be able to play like that — he was efficient offensively. He had great stamina.”

Wright noted that Samuels asked to come out maybe two or three times — “which he normally does not. … One of the times I told him, ‘No, suck it up.’ And he did, and he made a big play.”

True fact, Samuels confirmed with a laugh.

“Yeah, that did happen,’' Samuels said. “It’s all good. I still had more left in the tank.”

Postgame, Samuels described the previous 36 hours with a kind of calmness that is his trademark. Extremely excited to take the floor, just go out there and try to contribute any way he could. Play Villanova basketball, try to set the tone as best as he could. Try to make the right play, but stay aggressive.

He actually felt pretty good, Samuels noted. It’s easy to forget the other side of the coin, that a college basketball season is a grind, and January is often the biggest grind, the finish line nowhere in sight. Not that anyone would recommend a 27-day game break and no practice for half that time.

“Being out, having time to stretch, having time to rest, just to hit the reset button kind of,” Samuels said. “And just having that one day, getting reacclimated, knowing that the coaches were looking out ... when it was time to ask to come out.”

Being in isolation at a hotel, Samuels said, “I just hung out. You get a lot of YouTube in, a lot of video games in, just passing the time listening to music, just things like that.”

Was the COVID tougher on him mentally or physically?

“Definitely, mentally,” Samuels said. “Being out for so long definitely took a toll — not just on me, the team in general. But it definitely made us closer.”

How would it play with his head?

“You never know — praying that just nobody else tests positive,” Samuels said. “Being as safe as possible. It’s tough. It’s definitely tough.”

Given that Samuels couldn’t really have expectations for this game, did that allow him to just go out there and play, let the game come to him? His game looked in rhythm throughout.

“Yeah, honestly,” Samuels said. “Yeah, that’s honestly where our mindset was.”

In noting how Samuels had shown such mental toughness. Villanova’s coach made another point. It took more than guts to be able to do so much with so little preparation.

“Just his gifted athleticism,” Wright said.