Jermaine Samuels’ plate was full Thursday night.
The Villanova graduate student served as the primary defender on 7-foot-1 Michigan big man Hunter Dickinson and coach Jay Wright also wanted him to keep Dickinson moving when the Wildcats had the ball.
All Samuels, who at 6-7 gave up six inches to Dickinson, did was help limit Dickinson to 15 points on 6-for-16 shooting while scoring a game-high 22 points in the second-seeded Wildcats’ 63-55 South Regional victory over No. 11 Michigan in San Antonio. They earned a Saturday matchup at 6:09 p.m. with fifth-seeded Houston, which eliminated No. 1 Arizona, for a trip to the Final Four. This is Wright’s fifth Elite Eight in 21 years and third in seven years on the Main Line, highlighted by national championships in 2016 and ’18.
Villanova (29-7) was tested in the first two rounds against Delaware and Ohio State, but neither of those teams had a center capable of dominating like Dickinson, who scored 27 points on 8-for-13 shooting in the Wolverines’ second-round win over Tennessee.
Samuels, along with 6-8 teammate Eric Dixon from Abington, made sure Dickinson wouldn’t have the same kind of impact Thursday.
“I just wanted to stay mobile and move,” Samuels said. “I just tried to be as solid as possible. He’s a phenomenal player. He’s going to get great looks at the basket. Knowing I had my teammates behind me, that gave me all the confidence I needed.”
Samuels converted 8 of 13 field goal attempts and hit all five of his free throws, four of which came in the closing seconds.
“We asked a lot of him on the defensive end guarding Dickinson a lot, but then on the offensive end we were trying to move Dickinson around, which sounds good unless you’re the guy that’s got to do it,” Wright said. “If you’re the guy that’s got to do it, you’re running around setting screens, cutting to make him follow you.
“That was a gutty effort, man. I know he’s exhausted.”
The Wildcats rank No. 1 in the nation in free throw percentage (.826), led by Big East Player of the Year Collin Gillespie’s .902. Villanova also boasts a tremendous amount of experience, highlighted by fifth-year players Gillespie and Samuels.
Those two factors, as well as their effort at the defensive end, helped Villanova overcome a 9-for-30 shooting performance from 3-point range and advance. The Wildcats went 10 for 12 from the line, including 4 of 4 in the final minute, compared to the Wolverines’ 7-for-14 showing on free throws.
Junior guard Justin Moore added 15 points and Gillespie had 12 for Villanova. Gillespie’s left leg bent awkwardly when he was fouled late in the game, but Wright said he “appears to be fine.”
A Gillespie 3-pointer with 1:53 remaining increased the Wildcats’ edge to nine and Samuels made sure this wouldn’t be his or Gillespie’s last collegiate game, causing Wright to thank him for everything at the end.
“(Wright told me) that I was very tough and we got to keep it going,” Samuels said.
With memorable career winding down, Collin Gillespie hopes he has 4 games left at Villanova
New-and-improved Eric Dixon is giving Villanova quality minutes in middle
Longino sidelined
While Wright’s primary rotation typically consists of six guys handling the bulk of the minutes — only six logged more than three Thursday — the Wildcats’ depth took a hit with the news that freshman guard Jordan Longino, who has played the eighth-most minutes on the team, would undergo arthroscopic surgery Friday to repair a torn left meniscus.
Longino, a Germantown Academy graduate who was also a highly recruited quarterback in football, suffered the injury during a March 16 practice and wasn’t in uniform for the first- and second-round NCAA victories. He averaged 1.8 points and 8.8 minutes in 26 games this season.
Longino’s most memorable basket was a turnaround jumper with less than six minutes remaining in Villanova’s Big East Tournament semifinal victory over UConn on the way to winning the tourney.
Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes; @TomMoorePhilly
