Villanova beats Kansas, set to play Michigan
Wildcats stun Jayhawks and roll to an 95-79 victory
SAN ANTONIO — The thought going into Villanova’s Final Four game against Kansas was that the winner would be the team that stopped its opponent from sinking three-point baskets.
Well, the Wildcats showed, early and often, that they weren’t going to be stopped at the threepoint line.
They stunned the Jayhawks with six treys to take an 18-point lead before the game was seven minutes old, and rolled on to a 95-79 victory to earn the right to compete for their second national championship in the past three years.
The Wildcats (35-4) advanced to Monday night’s NCAA final against Michigan (33-7).
The Wolverines punched their ticket into the final with a 69-57 victory over Loyola Chicago earlier Saturday night.
Villanova set a record for a Final Four game with 18 threepointers on the night, four by
Eric Paschall, who led the Wildcats with 24 points on 10 of 11 shooting.
The Wildcats were so proficient from three-point range that its 13 treys in the first half tied the record for a Final Four game.
Seven different players sank shots from beyond the arc, and five knocked down two or more. Eleven assists were recorded on three-point makes.
They led 47-32 at the half and grew their margin to as many as 22. The Jayhawks (31-8), No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, got it to 14, 71-57, on Malik Newman’s runner in the lane with 9 minutes, 22 seconds left but the Cats kept Kansas at a safe distance the rest of the way.
Jalen Brunson added 18 points and six assists for Villanova and Omari Spellman contributed 15 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Donte DiVincenzo also had 15 points as the Wildcats shot 55.4 per cent from the floor and 45.0 from three-point territory.
Devonte Graham led Kansas with 23 points and Newman added 21. The Jayhawks shot 45.2 per cent and knocked down just seven three-pointers, below their average of 10.1 entering the game.
The Wildcats lit it up from three-point range right from the opening tipoff.
After missing their first two attempts, Paschall, Mikal Bridges and Spellman knocked down three deep shots in as many tries. Spellman, DiVincenzo and Collin Gillespie drilled three more treys shortly after and Villanova’s lead stood at 22-4 less than seven minutes into the game.
After calling timeout, Kansas switched to a zone defence and the Wildcats missed four shots (three treys) on their next four possessions. The Jayhawks also scored seven straight points to reduce the deficit to 11.
It was Jay Wright’s turn to call timeout, and the Wildcats started clicking once again.
Paschall, Phil Booth, Bridges and Brunson all scored from beyond the arc over a 2:15 span to get the advantage back to 17, 34-17.
Kansas was beginning to score at a more steady pace but two more three-pointers by Brunson and one by Booth kept the lead at 15, 43-28, with 3:47 remaining.
The Cats went just two of eight from the floor with no treys the rest of the half but maintained their 15-point margin, 47-32, at the halftime buzzer.
Brunson scored 13 points in the first half with Spellman and Paschall adding eight each, and Spellman contributing nine rebounds.
Paschall scored 10 of Villanova’s first 12 points in the second half and the advantage grew to
20, 59-39, on his three-point basket with 15:13 to play.
Spellman’s mid-range jumper with 13:14 to play made it 67-45.