SAN ANTONIO — Saturday's round of 8 matchup between No. 2-seeded Villanova and No. 5-seeded Houston was reminiscent of the college basketball games played ...
“Credit Villanova,” he said. A few missed shots and some lost rebounds kept Sampson’s team short of the Final Four it had wanted. Houston feeds off its opponents’ mistakes, but Villanova is a disciplined team that limits them. He led the Wildcats in points (15.9) and assists (3.3) this season while battling ankle injuries. - 1 Kansas799 Creighton72 - 1 Gonzaga684 Arkansas74 - 1 Gonzaga829 Memphis78 In a lot of close games this year, somebody stepped up.” Houston’s defense, which had been suffocating during its second half run, forced a turnover but could not capitalize, and by the time Villanova’s star guard Collin Gillespie drained two late free throws, the Cougars’ chances were gone. It was a little street fight every possession trying to get a rebound.” In the end, Coach Jay Wright’s Villanova team was too aggressive, too poised and too focused for Houston, which seemed ill-prepared to face an opponent it had so much in common with. The other, Villanova, has been looking to reposition itself as one of Division I’s most feared programs after a few dismal tournament seasons.
The 'Cats are headed back to the Final Four. Four Wildcats landed on the all-tournament South Region team, led by Big Game Jermaine.
“Back then, it was just amazing to watch those guys on the sidelines. “We’re not going to be perfect, but we’re together, and I think that’s the beautiful part about our program. Houston’s Shead was the only non-Villanova player to also receive that honor. It was like front row tickets to some of the best Villanova basketball players ever. Collin Gillespie buried a shot to halt Houston’s momentum, and Villanova went back to standing tall defensively. Jermaine Samuels led the ‘Cats with 16 points and 10 boards on 6-of-10 shooting. They briefly pushed their lead into double figures early in the second half, but then Houston started to rumble back. A lot of our guys ran over to him, because we’re not in the position we are without him.” They kept a high-powered Cougars team at bay, clamping down on them for most of the game. Unfortunately, the celebrations were hampered by concern for Justin Moore, who went down with an injury in the final minute of play when he tried to drive inside. We’re going to enjoy this tonight and tomorrow, rest up, and then we’re going to get to work. We get to keep playing, which is what we enjoy the most.”
Villanova withstood a poor shooting night and grinded out a 50-44 win over Houston on Saturday to reach its third Final Four in its past six NCAA ...
A short Shead jumper in the lane cut Villanova's lead to four with 1:25 remaining, but Villanova responded immediately with a Samuels' layup through contact. The Cougars are one of the best teams in the country at going on scoring runs to extend a lead or erase a deficit. Houston did come out with far more aggression in the second half, grabbing three offensive rebounds and scoring five second-chance points in the first four minutes. "Having veteran players is the key to that, guys that have been in that moment before." Gillespie, who had just six points and didn't play well for much of the game thanks to Jamal Shead's elite defense, drew a foul well outside the 3-point line and hit two free throws late in the first half. The biggest run Houston managed all game was a 6-0 stretch that cut Villanova's lead to two with 5:25 remaining. But early on, Villanova wouldn't let Houston win where it likes to win: on the offensive glass and in transition. Houston has built a reputation under Sampson for taking teams out of their comfort zone on the offensive end, but that's exactly what Villanova did to the Cougars in the first half. Houston badly needed a run that failed to materialize for the first 30 minutes of the game. "We're going to take a little smack in the mouth," Wright said. Through the first 17 minutes, Houston had just one offensive rebound and forced just two turnovers, neither of which were live-ball turnovers. The Cougars were forced to start their defense further out, and their jumpers weren't falling like they had in the first three games of the NCAA tournament.
SAN ANTONIO – Villanova guard Collin Gillespie grabbed the final rebound and sprinted across the court at the AT&T Center. He threw the ball toward the ...
They had emerged from a talented field in San Antonio, the same city where they won the national title in 2018. The Wildcats held the Cougars to under 30 percent from the field, and Houston made only one of its 20 attempts from three-point range. Dribbling left, crossing the ball over to his right and creating just enough space to uncork a jumper so pure it looked good the moment it left his fingertips. Every time the Cougars made a run, the Wildcats made a shot to quell momentum. But on this particular possession, for some reason, the defenders switched when he dribbled off a screen from Samuels. Gillespie said he wanted to throw the ball into Samuels in the post. But perhaps those predicting the demise of Villanova looked too closely at what the Wildcats could not do or had not done–and not closely enough at what they could do and had accomplished. That sequence trimmed the deficit to two points, and the crowd stood and screamed. When the Cougars chose to focus their attention on Gillespie, it was Samuels who stepped in to fill the scoring void. Houston had athletes, a veteran coach in Kelvin Sampson, played suffocating defense and displayed efficiency on both ends of the floor—the exact kind of makeup that portends a championship season. A version of a home-state crowd filed into the arena to find out. He spoke, instead, of the pride that bubbled as he watched his team—playing a “true road game,” discounted, the Cougars’ late run, the Wildcats’ composure, the big shots. SAN ANTONIO – Villanova guard Collin Gillespie grabbed the final rebound and sprinted across the court at the AT&T Center. He threw the ball toward the ceiling and unleashed a medieval scream.
In Villanova's de facto road game against Houston that was physical and nasty, the Wildcats' strong team culture pulled them through again.
It was like I had a front-row ticket to some of the greatest Villanova players to put on the jersey, and you try to emulate them and be them and put the work in like they did and pray it works out for you.” We have to stick together, and the guys did a great job of that.” From one generation to the next, Villanova has built a program that doesn’t just win these kind of games; it hands down the will to embrace them. If you feel like you have to show what you can do, maybe you don’t make good decisions, and we try to teach them how to be intelligent players, but the humility’s got to come first.” “He didn’t have to prove he could make the big shots, and he could get shots for his teammates and that comes with humility. Shead was everywhere Gillespie went, erasing his air space and determined to make the Wildcats’ most important player a non-factor in the Elite Eight.
SAN ANTONIO — Villanova Coach Jay Wright has won national championships with well-balanced and fundamentally sound teams, yet even he knew staying in contention ...
Villanova: This is the fourth time in a row that Villanova won when getting to a regional final, following 2009, 2016 and 2018. “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. … Fifth-year forward Fabian White Jr., who started only a handful of games before this season, played in his school-record 148th game and was part of a record 120 victories. The Wildcats are 20-3 in NCAA tourney games since 2016. Those were their only second-chance points in the entire game. But his only field goal came on the possession after the timeout when he waved off Samuels, stepped inside the 3-point line and hit a jumper with 5:02 left. The starting five was completely changed from last season, including Moore and two other senior newcomers. I had a mismatch … then Jermaine had a guard on him so he could rebound.” Villanova shot 28.8% from the field (15 of 52). The Cougars were only slightly better at 29.8% (17 of 57), missing their last five shots and 10 of 11 overall after cutting an 11-point deficit to two. We were talking about how we were going to stop them.” “We really weren’t talking as much at the end about how we were going to score. They just took it away.