Season averages:
Points – 4.6
Rebounds – 1.7
Assists – 0.6
Steals – 0.6
Field goal percentage – 46.6%
Three-point percentage – 35.9%
Free-throw percentage – 76.2%
Season highs:
Points – 15 vs Seton Hall
Rebounds – 6 vs Seton Hall
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Assists – 2 (several times)
Steals – 2 (several times)
Overall thoughts:
Palmer started the season in the rotation, playing 18 minutes against BYU in the opener. At the time it was questioned whether that was due to Zion Stanford’s injury, or if it was because he had earned that spot off of the bench. It became clearer as time went on that the 6’6” sophomore would have a consistent role for the Wildcats.
Unfortunately, that role increased late in the season due to the injury to Matt Hodge. Palmer slid into the starting lineup after Hodge tore his ACL at St. John’s, and in those four games he averaged 8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 27 minutes per game. He shot 44.4% from the floor and 31.3% from three-point range in those contests. Palmer scored 11 points and grabbed two rebounds in the tournament loss to Utah State, but in a season-low 21 minutes as a starter.
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The sophomore proved to be unafraid of taking big shots late in games. Prior to his role increase, the vast majority of his looks were high percentage. Palmer’s strength allows him to switch onto bigger players, but he’s athletic enough to defend smaller ones. Palmer does a lot of the little things in the hustle departments as well, drawing some comparisons to former Wildcat Jermaine Samuels for both his build and his playstyle. It’s easy to see the potential as he heads into his junior season.
With that potential will come increased looks from other schools and a pay raise. Palmer, like Chris Jeffrey and Braden Pierce, followed Kevin Willard from Maryland to Villanova. The hope is that he continues to see that through going into year three. That said, as things currently stand, it’s hard to see him projecting as a starter next season without some subtractions. There’s some overlap with the skillsets that both he and Tyler Perkins have. On one hand, you can never have enough strong, versatile wing players. On the other hand, at least one of them would need to improve their ball-handling and creation skills to play significant minutes together on the wings.
Like Jeffrey, if he’s willing to be a reserve still, it would be great to have him back. Palmer should be able to get well into the 20s in minutes played, especially as Hodge recovers from his torn ACL. But if he’s looking for a guaranteed starting role, that may not be available to him on the Main Line.
