Villanova grinds out an ugly victory
Wildcats are in the Final Four for the third time in the last six tournaments.
SAN ANTONIO — Villanova coach Jay Wright has won national championships with well-balanced and fundamentally sound teams, yet even he knew staying in contention for another title was going to take a rugged and exhaustive effort.
Ugly at times, the final result was beautiful for the Wildcats, who are going to their third Final Four in the last six NCAA tournaments.
Jermaine Samuels had 16 points and 10 rebounds as Villanova ground out a 50-44 victory over gritty and athletic Houston team in the South Region final Saturday.
“You just knew watching this team defensively, like you weren’t going to come out and just outscore them,” Wright said. “We really weren’t talking as much at the end about how we were going to score. We were talking about how we were going to stop them.”
Caleb Daniels added 14 points for the Wildcats (30-7), and fifth-year senior Collin Gillespie’s only made field goal was a clutch shot late, even though Villanova led throughout to clinch the first spot in this year’s Final Four in New Orleans.
“It was like playing against our own selves. They were just as physical as we were,” Daniels said. “It was a literal street fight, every possession trying to get a rebound.”
Villanova shot 28.8% from the field (15 for 52). The Cougars were only slightly better at 29.8% (17 for 57), missing their last five shots and 10 of 11 overall after cutting an 11-point second-half deficit to two. They made only one of their 20 attempted three-pointers in their lowest-scoring NCAA tournament game ever.
“We were getting stop, stop stop, we just weren’t scoring on the other end,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “I remember telling them in the huddle, I think it was a four-point game there and we kept getting stops that somebody’s going to make a big shot. But we didn’t. Credit Villanova.”