Wildcats ride flurry of 3-pointers to finale
SAN ANTONIO — One by one, Villanova keeps winning games and getting closer to another national title. Three by three, the Wildcats kept knocking down shots, making sure Kansas wouldn’t get in their way.
Villanova made a Final Four-record 18 3-pointers Saturday night, playing long ball to snuff out the Jayhawks early in a 95-79 victory.
Junior Eric Paschall led the barrage, going 4 for 5 from 3, 10 for 11 overall, and finishing with a career-high 24 points. But the hoop was as wide as the Alamodome for pretty much everyone in a Wildcats jersey. Villanova shot 45 percent from 3.
Next up is Michigan, which will try to guard the perimeter Monday night when Villanova (35-5) goes for its second title in three seasons.
Bill Self’s frustrated and almost helpless reactions said everything about why Kansas’ latest Final Four trip would last only one game. The coach knew his Jayhawks had to close out on Villanova’s deep well of 3-point shooters and contest all those deep shots.
Instead, Self found himself flailing his arms in disbelief as Villanova’s very first basket was a corner 3 on a clean look — the start of a have-no-answers night as the Wildcats made 3s at a record pace to shoot the Jayhawks into the offseason.
Villanova ended up making 18 of 40 3-pointers.
Kansas (31-8) came into the game playing a guardheavy lineup that theoretically could give them a bit more ability to chase Villanova’s shooters on the perimeter.
And the Jayhawks had allowed opponents to shoot 32.7 percent from behind the arc this year while allowing 10 or more 3s just 10 times all year.
Meanwhile, Villanova came in needing just seven 3s to set a Division I singleseason record.
But the Jayhawks were a step slow all night in San Antonio, the site of their last national championship a decade ago.
They couldn’t keep up as the Wildcats whipped the ball around the perimeter or on drive-and-kickouts for open looks, and they couldn’t hit enough 3s of their own at the other end to stem the Wildcats’ rampaging display.
Self, meanwhile, was irked from the moment Paschall drained that open corner 3 less than 90 seconds into the game.
Minutes later, the ball swung to Omari Spellman near the top and Self immediately pointed for 7-footer Udoka Azubuike to come out.
Azubuike made it only to about the elbow before Spellman was knocking it down and leading Self to burn an immediate timeout.
At another point, Villanova pushed the ball ahead and found Paschall alone in the corner right in front of the Kansas bench for another 3. Marcus Garrett couldn’t recover from the wing and Paschall buried that one, too, sending Self leaning back in his chair and raising both hands to his head.