Villanova’s Jermaine Samuels available Saturday against Creighton

Villanova starting forward Jermaine Samuels, who missed Tuesday night’s game against St. John’s because of a left foot sprain, will be available to play Saturday when the eighth-ranked Wildcats take on Creighton at the Wells Fargo Center.

Samuels, a 6-foot-7 forward who averages 11.1 points, one of five Cats in double figures, was a full participant in Friday’s practice at Finneran Pavilion. He hurt his foot late in the first half of last Saturday’s victory over Providence.

“I think he’s going to be good,” coach Jay Wright said. “I don’t think he’s 100% but I’m pretty sure we’re going to play him. He’s coming back in a good fashion, just a little stiffness he’s going to have to play through, but it’s just part of coming back from this type of injury, can’t hurt it. So I think we’ll play him.”

Wright added he would wait until before the game to determine if Samuels will start or come off the bench. Samuels had started all 19 of Villanova’s games before his injury.

The Wildcats (17-3, 7-1 Big East) enter Saturday with a seven-game winning streak. The first victory in that run came Jan. 7 at Creighton, a 64-59 victory behind 24 points from Collin Gillespie.

In that game, Villanova emphasized guarding the three-point arc and limited the Bluejays (16-5, 5-3) to just three baskets in 14 attempts from downtown. Their top three long-distance shooters – Ty-Shon Alexander, Marcus Zegarowski and Mitch Ballock – went 1 of 10.

Wright knows Creighton coach Greg McDermott will have a different plan to spring his three-point shooters for more open looks.

“Greg’s a great coach,” he said. “He’s going to make adjustments from that last game, and we don’t know what they’re going to be. But we have to be prepared to adjust in-game, because they’re not going to do the same things they did because we did a good job against them.”