BOSSAOSS NOVA
Donte, ’Cats dance to 2nd title in three years
Donte DiVincenzo winks after draining one of his five 3-pointers. He came off the bench to take over the NCAA championship game Monday night, finishing with 31 points to lead the top-seeded Wildcats to a 79-62 victory over No. 3 Michigan.
SAN ANTONIO — They used to call him the Michael Jordan of Delaware.
And on the biggest and brightest stage of his basketball life, Donte DiVincenzo was every bit Like Mike.
With the world watching, with Michigan so doggedly chasing a f irst national championship for 65-year-old coaching lifer John Beilein, it was as if Donte D was suddenly back at Salesianum High, which he led to consecutive state titles.
He torched Michigan with 18 first-half points on his way to a career-high 31 and rescued Villanova during its every moment of need.
Transformed his team into KILL-anova, a 79-62 winner for its second national title in three years. Donte’s Inferno. He wears No. 10 and he stormed off the bench as the Perfect 10, Most Outstanding Player, on a night when SuperNova badly needed him.
A pair of dagger 3s when Michigan cut its deficit to 56-44 with Jalen Brunson saddled with four fouls on the bench buried the Wolverines. A pair of free throws gave DiVincenzo 11 straight Villanova points.
And when it ended, it ended with DiVincenzo underhanding the basketball to the heavens.
He was sobbing tears of joy on the victory podium, wiping them away with a white towel, before Jim Nantz interviewed him and Brunson, his former roommate, handed him the championship trophy. Which Brunson bent over and kissed. Before they all basked in their One Shining Moment. Before they all cut down the nets and DiVincenzo climbed the ladder as midnight arrived.
“I did not think I was gonna have this kind of night,” DiVincenzo said.
Of course he thanked his teammates for helping make his night. It is the Villanova Way.
DiVincenzo, a 6-foot-5 redshirt sophomore, was not on the floor two years ago when Kris Jenkins hit The Shot at the very end that beat North Carolina because his season had ended on Dec. 7 when he suffered a fractured fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot.
“I was on the bench in a suit,” DiVincenzo said. “When he got the ball, I was already standing up by the time he released it, and I was on the court before the ball even went in. “I took the pile down.” Asked how he knew it was going in, DiVincenzo said:
“It’s Kris Jenkins. I’ve seen that shot a million times in practice.”
DiVincenzo was asked Sunday whether he had given any thought to having the ball in his hands with a chance to win the national championship.
“I think anybody on this team would want to be in that position and knock that down. It’s a dream come true,” he said. So was this night. “He just has that mindset that he’s a killer and that’s what makes him special,” Brunson said.
Jay Wright, his black hair soaking wet on the podium, likes to joke that DiVincenzo would have been the late Rollie Massimino’s favorite because he is a redheaded Italian.
“I like when all the lights are on and the pressure’s on,” DiVincenzo said. Obviously. Michigan’s defiant defense had throttled everyone else in the first half. But not DiVincenzo. He bombed fearlessly from behind the arc. He attacked the hoop with a vengeance. On one occasion, he stormed back on defense to block a Zavier Simpson layin and pinned it against the hoop.
What had been 21-14 for Michigan was suddenly 37-28 for Villanova at the half.
In the second half, DiVincenzo soared for a two-handed block in front of the basket on Charles Matthews.
“Incredible performance,” a gracious Beilein said.
Donte’s Inferno.