Villanova graduate guard Collin Gillespie was named the 2021-2022 Big East Player of the Year, the league announced Wednesday. Gillespie, who shared the award in 2020-2021 with then-Villanova teammate Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Seton Hall’s Sandro Mamukelashvili, is the first repeat winner of the award since Providence’s Kris Dunn in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.

Gillespie led the Wildcats to a 16-4 record in Big East play with 16.1 points and 3.1 assists per game. He was the fourth leading scorer in the league, trailing only DePaul’s Javon Freeman-Liberty, St. John’s Julian Champagnie and Marquette’s Justin Lewis.

Gillespie also led the Big East in free throw percentage, at a 91.5% clip, and three-point percentage, at 43.1%. He was sixth in the league in field goal percentage, making 44.7% of his shots.

Gillespie was also named the Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year, on Wednesday, for his strong academic performance this year. He was one of two 4.0 student athletes on the Wildcat roster for the fall semester, along with fellow graduate student Jermaine Samuels. 

These awards are the latest of a long list of accolades for Gillespie. Earlier this week, Gillespie was the only unanimous choice for the All-Big East First Team, and nationally he was named as a Third Team All-American by the USBWA and the NABC in 2021. 

Gillespie is also one of 15 finalists for the Wooden Award, given to the Most Outstanding Player in College Basketball. If chosen, Gillespie would be the first Wooden Award winner from Villanova since Jalen Brunson in 2017-2018.

The Wildcats return to the court Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden, where they will take on the winner of St. John’s and DePaul. Villanova hasn’t won the tournament since 2019, the last year Gillespie was healthy enough to participate.