The NCAA Tournament is new to most Villanova players. Time to see how they handle the madness.

With Collin Gillespie sidelined, senior forward Jermaine Samuels is the only Wildcat with significant prior experience in the event. Six scholarship players will make their debut.

Jermaine Samuels played on Villanova's 2018 national championship team.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

by Joe Juliano

Published March 19, 2021, 11:52 a.m. ET

Villanova will take the floor for Friday night’s first-round game in the NCAA Tournament against Winthrop with only one player who had logged significant playing time in the event.

Senior forward Jermaine Samuels played in six games — four during his freshman season of 2018 when he saw 12 minutes of action during the Wildcats’ national championship run, scoring one point, and two in 2019 when he contributed a total of 23 points and 10 rebounds in starts against Saint Mary’s and Purdue.

Other than brief appearances by junior forwards Cole Swider (five points in eight minutes) and Brandon Slater (zero points in four minutes) against Purdue, the Cats entered their tournament opener against the 12th-seed Eagles with six healthy scholarship players experiencing the bright lights of the Big Dance for the first time.

Of course, the 2020 tournament was canceled, costing then-freshmen Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Justin Moore, Bryan Antoine and Chris Arcidiacono a chance to see their name in a box score. All but Antoine were expected to start Friday night’s game, with Antoine coming off the bench.

Guard Caleb Daniels and forward Eric Dixon, both of whom redshirted last year, also were expected to make their debuts Friday night.

So what did coach Jay Wright say to them?

“We talked to the guys,” he said earlier this week, “about the fact that part of this tournament and success in this tournament and advancing in this tournament is going to be our attitude and how we handle all these unique circumstances, and we have had experience in that.

“Our ability to do everything we’ve got to do within the protocols, but then when we get on the court, block everything out and keep our focus to 94-by-50 feet, that’s going to be a key, and it’s something that we practice and try to address all year long. So I hope that is an advantage.”

It would have been more of an advantage had Collin Gillespie been able to play, but the senior point guard is out for the season with a torn ligament in his left knee. Gillespie’s career averages for his 2018 and 2019 NCAA appearances were 4.0 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 15.8 minutes in eight games.

The entire Winthrop roster is playing in its first NCAA Tournament game. The Eagles, who last participated in 2017, already had punched their ticket last season by winning the Big South Tournament championship but stayed home after the pandemic took away their shot at the national stage.

Wright conceded the Wildcats’ lack of postseason experience may have been a factor in their March 11 loss to Georgetown in the Big East Tournament, especially down the stretch when his team held a 70-65 lead with 1:29 to play and were outscored 7-1 from that point.

“You kind of look at what can we control, what can’t we control,” he said. “It definitely could have been but we don’t even address it because we can’t control it. It’s the same thing with the NCAA Tournament. You’ve got to go through it, you’ve got to live it. Some guys never play in it and do a great job. Some guys get affected by it. But you can’t worry about it because you can’t control that.”

Wright would like to see his team do a better job with factors they can control: Moving better when they defend, being more physical on the boards to prevent the opponent from grabbing offensive rebounds and, in the coach’s words, “finding a way” when the shots aren’t falling.