Villanova, ranked No. 2, became the first team to receive a ticket to the final four this year at the 2022 NCAA Tournament. The Wildgates went wire-to-wire for a win over the Cougars on Saturday, slightly behind Houston at No. 5, advancing 50-44 in the final weekend of March Madness.
In a match between two talented, top-10 offenders, the Wildgates won what they did not often do: with their defense. They caught the Red-hot Cougars, who removed Arizona from the No. 1 ranking in the Sweet 16, from 1-off-20 shooting and 17-off-58 shooting ground from the 3-point range. College basketball note that this is Houston’s worst shooting performance on the field since the 2013-14 season and its worst mark from a 3 – point range in a decade.
“They played hard. It was hard for both teams to score,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said in a post-match interview. “That’s good defense. They were good defensively. We were defensively good.”
Villanova became the first 2nd-ranked player to defeat the 5th-ranked player in the Elite Eight Round of the NCAA Tournament. Jermaine Samuels again played for the Wildcats with 16 more points, while Caleb Daniels – the only Nova player in the doubles – to add 12 points. Senior guard Colin Gillespie had just 6 points.
Villanova faces the winner of the Midwest region in the top four next weekend, where it is waiting for the winner of the No. 1 standard Kansas and No. 10 level Miami. Here are some tips for Saturday’s game.
1. Security, safety, security
Houston averaged over 75 points for a game coming up Saturday. Villanova averaged just under 73 per game. In the defensive game both teams could not even score 100 runs together. If you were an underdog landing at 127, you had reason to celebrate soon.
“If you had told me before the game that we were going to catch them 28% off the field and 23% off the 3-point line, we would have failed and I would not have trusted you.” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Our kids guarded. Man, did they guard. Our security was better. We kept them within 50 points. We had a lot of chances, they didn’t go inside. It’s going to happen.”
Villanova’s 50 points are the lowest in a game since 2018. Houston’s 44 points are the lowest in a game since 2015. So, in true March Madness style, two of the most talented attacking teams in this year’s NCAA tournament battled in defense and production. The lowest-scoring tourney game of all time.
2. The lasting greatness of Noah
Villanova’s victory over Houston gave them four fourth – final appearances since 2009 and their third (!) Appearance in the last six games. The last two times it came this far, it was a complete success.
This time the bracket is very tricky – the No. 1 seed Kansas can wait for the Wildgates in the next round – but they can finish the job as they did the previous two times. This team does not have the best depth and the best front court. However, it has the experience, the diversity of the line-up, an elite head coach and the March Breakout star in Jermaine Samuels.
3. Major injury to Noah
Villanova was finishing the game in the final minute of the game when the team’s second leading scorer, Justin Moore, suffered a bare leg injury and did not return to the game. The severity of the injury is unknown, but the reaction here … well, it’s not crazy to think he’s out for the rest of the match. Moore’s prediction, “Wright speculated.Probably not well. “
If Moore could not go on, it would be a crushing blow to the shallow Villanova team of previous years. Only seven wildcats got into Saturday’s game, one of which lasted three minutes. Keep an eye out for next weekend four with the match against the No. 1 ranking remaining for the rest of the tournament.
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