March 26, 2016
Taking a step up in competition against the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks, the No. 2 Villanova Wildcats didn’t have anywhere close to the offensive rhythm that we saw from them in the first three games of the NCAA Tournament. Neither did Kansas, though.
Villanova is headed to the Final Four in Houston next Saturday after defeating the Jayhawks 64-59 in the South Regional final. Kansas, the Big 12 champions and NCAA Tournament's top overall seed, came into Saturday as winners of 17 straight games. 'Nova is going back to college basketball’s biggest stage for the first time since 2009.
Despite coming back to Earth from the previous few games in terms of shooting, Kris Jenkins, Ryan Arcidiacono, and Josh Hart each managed 13 points to tie for Villanova's scoring lead. Daniel Ochefu contributed 10 points and 8 rebounds, finding some success against Kansas' talented frontcourt.
Unlike in the first three rounds of the tourney, 'Nova won ugly tonight. Kansas employs a much stingier defense than what the Wildcats had seen for a couple of weeks, and Wright's team had to tough this one out. That is exactly what they did, slowing the tempo and forcing 16 Kansas turnovers while mixing zone and man-to-man defenses.
In particular, long and athletic freshman Mikal Bridges was all over the place defensively. The Malvern native came up with five critical steals, and he teamed up with Arcidiacono to close the game out:
This is what Bill Raftery was talking about. I was thinking the same thing (end of 85 championship game) #Villanova pic.twitter.com/d1juCkHQHM
— J.A. Adande (@jadande) March 27, 2016
And just like in their Elite 8 victory over Pitt in Boston seven years ago, 'Nova was lights out from the free-throw line. The Wildcats shot 18-19 from the charity stripe.
No matter what happens next weekend, Villanova has completely changed their perception nationally. All of those jokes second-round exits are null and void. So is the larger narrative that 'Nova is simply the product of a weak conference. The line of thinking that Villanova can only win by shooting well from the field also doesn't hold much water, as the Wildcats knocked off Kansas while shooting 40.4 percent overall and 22.2 percent from deep.
Inside the winning locker room! All smiles! Houston bound for the #FinalFour #LetsMarchNova pic.twitter.com/aiPFLbtudd
— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) March 27, 2016
The next step won’t be much easier. A week from today at NRG Stadium in Houston, the Wildcats will tangle with Buddy Hield and the Oklahoma Sooners, who just so happened to beat Villanova by 23 points earlier in the year.
Much more coverage to come.
