NEW YORK -- The sum total of the first two months of the season for Dylan Painter was 37 minutes played, five points scored and 13 rebounds.
He was the guy who went in when Villanova was up by 30. The guy the student section would scream like crazy for because he never got to play.
"Midway through the year I wasn't playing that much," Painter said. "I just kept playing hard in practice and it's paying off."
It sure is.
The little-known Painter had the game of his life Thursday, with career-highs of 22 minutes, 10 points and six rebounds in Villanova's 108-67 win over St. John's in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
Painter had scored 10 points in his entire college career before Thursday.
But with sophomore Mikal Bridges forced to leave the game after one minute with a stomach virus, coach Jay Wright went early to the 6-foot-10 Painter, who responded with five rebounds and some active post defense in the first half. That earned him a long run in the second half and he didn't disappoint.
"Mikal was out and that was a surprise to all of us, but our philosophy is next-man-up and no drop-off," Painter said. "So I just went in, gave energy, got some rebounds, and finished off some great passes from Jalen (Brunson), Donte (DiVincenzo) and Josh (Hart). They all helped me out."
To put his performance in perspective, Painter's previous career high was three points against the College of Charleston in November.
But what impressed his coaches and teammates wasn't Painter's scoring, it was his rebounding and defensive tenacity.
"Dylan never worried about scoring, he just worried about making sure he did the right thing, made the right play," Josh Hart said.
Painter, a Hershey native, was expected to redshirt until Villanova learned it would be without Omari Spellman and Phil Booth this year.
"He's come on strong," Wright said. "He's a tough kid, he's competitive and he's really intelligent."
Villanova (29-3), faces Seton Hall at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Big East Tournament semifinals.
Bridges should be back, but don't be surprised if Painter gets some good minutes anyway as Wright tries to expand his bench and rest his starters' legs leading into the NCAA Tournament.
"Dylan's gotten better every day that he's been here, and he's still getting better," Kris Jenkins said. "D-Pain is playing great for us and hopefully we can continue putting him in positions where he can succeed and we can see his confidence just keep growing."
Painter got increased minutes during the five games Darryl Reynolds missed with a rib injury and that really spring-boarded him to where he is now.
"(My confidence) has definitely grown," he said. "Every game I just feel more and more comfortable out there.
"I'm not asked to do much on offense or anything so I just know I have to go in there and play as hard as I can on defense and rebound the ball, and if I do that they're happy with me."
They were all thrilled with Painter against St. John's. They saw a side of him they'd never seen before.
"About midway through the season in practice we started to see it come," Wright said. "It's different in practice and in games, and in games you'd see a little of it and then you'd see a little hesitancy.
"(His confidence) really kind of showed (Thursday), how much he's improved, and as we keep going here he can continue to improve."
The Wildcats will lose Hart, Jenkins and Reynolds next year, but Bridges, Brunson and Eric Paschall are sophomores, DiVincenzo is a freshman, Booth will be a junior coming back next year and Omari Spellman will be a freshman.
Add Painter to the equation and the Wildcats aren't going away anytime soon.
"Dylan played great today," Hart said. "You saw Dylan being the anchor in our zone. He played his butt off offensively. My man, he had double-digits today. He played hard, and it was really a great game by him but also (important) to get that experience.
"It's tough right now for a freshman, obviously not practicing as much, so the reps are very limited. So for him to get out there 20, 21 minutes for a freshman late in the year getting good, hard game reps is going to really pay off for him.
"Dylan is where we want him to be. Those five games Darryl was out really helped him a lot just in terms of getting his confidence up and getting him some experience out there playing with us."
With Reynolds back healthy and Painter emerging as a functional big man, Wright now has the luxury of playing two bigs together, something he did for significant stretches on Thursday.
"It's been good to have him, so now we're eight guys (deep) and we don't have to have that much wear and tear on everybody, we're able to get different lineups in," Hart said.
"We're playing two bigs sometimes, and we've really almost never done that since I've been here. J.P. (JayVaughn Pinkston with Daniel Ochefu), if you want to call him a big. He was 6-6.
"But to have two guys 6-9 and I'll say 6-11, I'll give Dylan that, it's good to have that new dimension."