‘Glue’ guy Tyler Perkins keeps Villanova rolling in its double-digit win over Seton Hall

Kevin Willard was going on about his appreciation for the way his Villanova team works during practices when he referred to junior guard Tyler Perkins, seated to his right after Villanova’s 72-60 victory over Seton Hall, as a “pain in the ass.”

He meant it in the best way possible.

“He works too much,” Willard said. “His processor gets burned out sometimes.”

Villanova improved to 17-5 on the season and 8-3 in the Big East for a variety of reasons Wednesday night. The Wildcats, who never trailed, got a key effort from Malachi Palmer, who scored a career-high 15 points off the bench and helped ignite an 8-0 run to end the first half to send Villanova into the break with a 15-point lead. They forced Seton Hall point guard and Philadelphia native Adam “Budd” Clark to shoot jump shots and limited his ability to impact the game in transition. They out-rebounded one of the better rebounding teams in the conference, 37-27.

But they won again because Perkins, the only returning regular player from last season, continues to excel. It has been a different guy on some nights for Villanova. Early in the season, it was Acaden Lewis and Bryce Lindsay driving the backcourt with Duke Brennan manning the middle.

Devin Askew has chipped in strong efforts off the bench, especially of late. Wednesday night was Palmer’s turn. But Perkins, who transferred to Villanova from Penn after his freshman season, scored 18 points and added five rebounds. It was his 10th double-digit scoring effort in Villanova’s last 12 games.

“He’s just the glue of their team,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said. “He’s just solid.

“For him to be a junior, he’s a grown man. He plays bigger than his size.”

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Being a “glue guy” can be a derogatory term to some players. And maybe it’s an unfair label for Perkins, a 6-foot-4 guard, who is averaging 17.8 points and 6.5 rebounds over his last six games. Lewis and Lindsay have at times struggled with the physicality required to get through a Big East season. Perkins hasn’t.

You can call him whatever you want to.

“A lot of people say it, but at the end of the day I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help my team,” Perkins said. “I can impact the game in many ways. I’m fine with that if we win.”

He made winning plays Wednesday, and some were more obvious than others. Seton Hall threatened to erase a Villanova lead that grew as large as 20. The Pirates dialed up the pressure and forced Villanova into 11 second-half turnovers. The lead was down to 11 when Perkins turned a missed Palmer three-pointer into a put-back layup plus a free throw to push the lead back to 14 with six minutes to go. He was just 1-for-6 from three-point range but made all five of his free throws and only turned the ball over just once.

Willard was doing some reminiscing Wednesday with his former school in the building. He was asked if Perkins reminded him at all of Josh Hart with all of the little things he does.

“Josh kicked my ass for four years,” Willard said. “Three games a year I got it from Josh. One of the things I loved about Josh is he affected the game at every level and never made a mistake. He was OK not touching the ball for eight or nine possessions. Once [Perkins] realizes it’s OK not to touch the ball a little bit and he can still affect the game at an unbelievable level, that’s what made Josh a pro. Josh affected the game without having to score, but he found ways to score. He found ways to shut down the best offensive guy.

“[Perkins] is starting to figure that out. That’s about a big a compliment as I can give to somebody, because Josh was not only a phenomenal person, which Tyler is, but just a winner. And Tyler is a winner.”

» READ MORE: Villanova recruited Devin Askew in high school. Six years and five schools later, he’s fueling the Wildcats.

He may not have the kind of NBA future that Hart has created himself, but Perkins is affecting winning right now on a Villanova team that is tracking toward snapping a three-year NCAA Tournament drought in Willard’s first season. The Wildcats play next at Georgetown on Saturday, a team they beat by 15 at home two weeks ago. There are more winnable games on the calendar ahead, and two rematches with No. 3 UConn and No. 22 St. John’s remaining, too.

With all the success Willard has had so far through 22 games, the coach was asked Wednesday night what he’s most satisfied with so far.

“Nothing,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. February is not a time to be [satisfied]. You should be looking at your team right now in February and saying, ‘What do I need to improve? What do I need to fix?’ I have to fix our offense a little bit.”

Count on Perkins being part of the solution.