HOUSTON — The Villanova Wildcats cruised into their first NCAA championship game since 1985 in record fashion.
Josh Hart went for a game-high 23 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists and six players reached double-figures in scoring as the Big East regular season champion Wildcats destroyed Buddy Hield and Oklahoma, 95-51, before an NRG Stadium crowd of 75,505 — including including former President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Joe Biden.
It was the largest margin of victory ever in a Final Four game. The game was so lopsided Villanova coach Jay Wright put three walk-ons in for the final minutes.
“We got whipped in every way,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said.
Villanova (34-5) will play North Carolina, an 83-66 winner over Syracuse in the second semifinal, here on Monday night for the national championship. That game will tip at 9:19 EST on TBS.
Villanova shot 71 percent from floor, the best shooting performance at the Final Four since the Wildcats shots 79 percent to upset Patrick Ewing and Georgetown in the championship game in Rupp Arena. That year, the Big East accounted for three-quarters of the Final Four.
“That was just one of those nights,” Wright told Tracy Woolfson on air. “I feel bad for Oklahoma, we’ve all had those nights and they’ve had a great season. They’re a great team. And it’s tough when they beat us so badly earlier in the year, it’s tough to get as fired up. We knew they could beat us bad, so we had a lot of fear coming into this game.”
Villanova had won its first four NCAA games by an average of 19.2 points per game and continued that trend in the national semifinals against Hield and Company.
Hield, who won the the Oscar Robertson Trophy here this week and is projected as a Top 10 pick in the NBA Draft, stuggled mightily in scoring 9 points on 4-of-12 shooting. Six Villanova players scored more points than Hield.
“They just played great and hats off to Villanova,” Hield said after his final college game. “That’s one of the best teams I ever played in college. Just have to give them credit, they made it hard for us tonight.”
Asked by a reporter from the Bahamas what was next for him, Hield said: “Got to go chase my dreams next. Play in the NBA if I get a chance, I’ll take the opportunity and make the best out of it.”
Hart said on air it was a total team effort to contain Hield, who had scored 37 points in the Elite Eight win over Oregon.
“Just everybody locked in,” Hart said. “It wasn’t just the guy that was guarding him, you saw four guys load into him. Everybody was just so dialed into the scouting report, so together….Just playing defensively as a team, defensively together, that’s how we were able to contain him.”
The second installment of Villanova-Oklahoma looked nothing like the first.
On Dec. 7 in Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma destroyed Villanova, 78-55, with the Sooners out-shooting the Wildcats 47 percent to 32 percent. Oklahoma made 14-of-26 three-pointers in the first game (54 percent from deep), while Villanova made just 4-of-32 (13 percent).
Hart shot 2-for-9 for 10 points in that game.
But it was a completely different story in the national semifinals.
Hart was brilliant early, scoring 15 points in the first half as Villanova seized a 42-28 lead. By the half, the Wildcats had disposed of the so-called “Dome Effect” by making 6-of-11 from deep (55 percent).
Hield, meantime, got off to a slow start, scoring just 7 first-half points on 3-of-8 shooting and 1-of-5 from deep.
Oklahoma closed to within 46-37 early in the second half thanks to seven straight points from Jordan Woodard, but Villanova answered with a 31-4 run to make it 77-41 and put the game out of reach. Villanova scored 25 unanswered points during the run.
The Wildcats now await the winner between North Carolina and Syracuse.
“We’d love to bring a championship home to Philly,” Wright said here Friday. “We have to get past Oklahoma first. We can’t even talk about that yet.”
Said Hield: “If they play like that, they can go win it all.”
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The Villanova Wildcats are headed to their first NCAA championship game since 1985.2016-04-02T19:52:02-0400
