Villanova freshman Bryan Antoine stays patient with limited playing time after shoulder surgery

Bryan Antoine leaves his seat on the Villanova bench, runs to the scorer’s table, and takes the court to a warm ovation from the sellout crowd at Finneran Pavilion. Maybe he’ll get a chance to show the attendees the skills, energy, and athleticism that made him a consensus top-20 high school recruit last season.

However, after a stint that usually ends in about two minutes, Antoine returns to the bench with no guarantee that he’ll reenter the game.

One would think a player who was sought by most college basketball powers, who went to the Main Line with as much fanfare as Scottie Reynolds and Jalen Brunson (and wearing uniform No. 1 like they did), could get a little disillusioned.

That’s not happening with Antoine. He understands the process that was established for him when he arrived at Villanova with a sore right shoulder that bothered him his entire senior season at the Ranney School in Tinton Falls, N.J., an injury that was later discovered to be a torn labrum.

Surgery on May 31 was followed by more than five months of rehabilitation before he could even begin to practice with the team, and then two more weeks before he made his collegiate debut Nov. 21 against Middle Tennessee State. After two stints totaling seven minutes Tuesday night against St. John’s, Antoine has played in 13 of his team’s 20 games for a total of 83 minutes and has scored 18 points.

And he’s fine with that.

“I was frustrated, but also, it’s a very severe injury and I was out for five or six months, so it takes time to come back from an injury of that nature,” the 6-foot-5, 175-pound guard said in a recent interview. “Of course, I was itching to come back, but I knew that if I took the time and had it heal, then when I came back, I would have come back at 110 percent. So it’s kind of the bigger picture instead of the small picture.

“I would say I am a patient person, but this type of situation kind of required a different type of patience. It isn’t high school basketball anymore. So it’s being patient to make sure that I’m actually able to go out there and play with some of the best in college basketball.

“I really don’t think I had a choice to be patient, but just being patient and actually letting everything calm down, cool down, heal up, I think that really helped me in the long run.”

Wildcats point guard Collin Gillespie roomed with Antoine during the summer and admired how he approached everything, whether rehab sessions with athletic trainer Jeff Pierce and strength coach John Shackleton, or learning the team’s offensive and defensive concepts with assistant coaches Kyle Neptune, George Halcovage, and Mike Nardi.

“He’s had a great attitude through it all,” Gillespie said. “Whatever has been thrown at him, he’s dealt with it tremendously. He’s kept a great attitude, a great spirit. Throughout it all, he’s stayed up, stayed positive, knew that it was just a minor setback. He got back to work, got in the weight room, got back in the gym.

“Coming out of high school being a top prospect and not being able to touch a ball for four or five months, it had to be tough for him. He did a great job with it, staying positive.”

In the Shore Conference, made up of high schools from Monmouth and Ocean Counties, Antoine finished his career as the all-time leading scorer. He averaged more than 20 points per game in each of his four seasons, even his senior season as he would feel sharp pains when his shoulder would “kind of pop,” he said.

Antoine said he never knew he had a torn labrum until he was examined by Villanova’s medical staff last spring. Wildcats coach Jay Wright spoke with him before his surgery, and talked about the possibility of sitting out the season as a redshirt.

“The surgery required a long rehab process,” Wright said. “It wasn’t like an ankle, where he could get out and shoot a little bit. Being a shoulder, he couldn’t shoot, he couldn’t even catch a ball or touch a ball. So he prepared himself for that. His coaches and his parents were very realistic.

“We discussed redshirting, but he did do a great job in his rehab with our staff, so we just decided it’s better off to see how far we can get him this year because there will be a part of this he would have to go through next year anyway, so he’s kind of going through it now. He’s very intelligent and I think that’s why he’s going to be a really good player.”

Antoine said that after his option was explained to him, he wasn’t against the possibility of redshirting. But he’s fine with the way it has worked out because “I’m doing all this stuff now” in terms of sharpening his skills and learning the plays.

Because of his rehab, Antoine missed summer workouts and every practice leading up to Villanova’s season opener against Army. Wright said he and his staff were explaining team concepts on the fly and how much time it would take for him to fully understand them.

As it turned out, Antoine plays the type of game that is the trademark of Villanova basketball — defending, rebounding, diving on loose balls, taking charges — things he noticed while sitting out.

“All the little things that we do, he takes pride in that stuff, which is really special to have as a freshman,” Gillespie said.

Antoine said it’s just a matter of following his own style of basketball.

“Instead of individual accolades, I love when someone passes the ball and someone else scores,” he said. “I love defensive highlights. I feel like some kids like the dunks and the alley-oops and the crossovers. But to me, I feel like if someone dives on the ground or takes a charge or steals a ball and saves it and dives into the crowd, that’s what I kind of love about basketball, everyone playing hard and playing for one goal.

“The main goal for Villanova basketball is to play hard no matter what, offense and defense. Every time I play basketball, I’m always playing hard. So it wasn’t that hard of a transition to go from being hurt and sitting out, and then coming back and going out there and playing hard.”

Antoine has come a long way for someone who didn’t play in a basketball game from mid-April to late November. He estimates his recovery now as “90 to 95%” and has no fear about taking charges and going to the deck for loose balls.

Wright will continue to monitor Antoine’s minutes as he continues to understand what his teammates are doing, and watch him improve to become “a locked-in, experienced player.”

“I do think in the long run, especially for next year when we’re really going to need him, I think he’s going to be in much better shape,” Wright said, “and we have a chance to get him going here and see where we can get him by the end of the season.”