Villanova is back in the Final Four.
The Wildcats held off a second-half push from Houston to advance to their third Final Four in the last six NCAA tournaments with a 50-44 win over the Cougars.
Villanova led the entire game and had a comfortable lead throughout much of the second half. But Houston cut the Villanova lead to 42-40 before a big basket by guard Collin Gillespie put the lead back at four with 5:04 to go.
Gillespie has been a rock for the Wildcats all season and especially in the NCAA tournament. He’s made clutch plays whenever Villanova has needed them. He had a quiet night on Saturday with just six points, but that basket and some free throws with less than 26 seconds left essentially snuffed out any chance Houston had of coming back.
Villanova suffered a huge potential loss with less than a minute left when Justin Moore went down with an apparent lower right leg injury as he attempted to drive toward the basket. Moore fell to the floor as something gave way in his right leg and he had to be helped to the Villanova bench as he struggled to put any weight on the leg.
Neither team shot well from the field, though that was an expected occurrence for a game featuring two of the best defensive teams in college basketball. Both teams entered the game allowing less than 63 points per game and their defensive reputations played out as promised with officials letting both teams play physically.
Villanova shot just 29% from the field while Houston was just 33% from the field. The Wildcats were perfect from the free throw line, however. Villanova was 15-of-15 at the stripe while Houston was 9-of-14.
The Cougars were abysmal from behind the arc too. Houston was 1-of-20 from three. Yes, 1-of-20. Its only made three of the game came with 16:14 to go when Taze Moore hit a three to cut Villanova’s lead to seven. That make came on Houston’s 10th 3-point attempt of the night. The Cougars missed their final 10 threes of the game as they simply couldn’t draw even with the Wildcats.
Moore’s injury looms large
If Moore’s injury is a serious one, Villanova faces a big challenge in the Final Four against either Kansas or Miami. Moore is the team’s second-leading scorer behind Gillespie on a Wildcats team that only goes six-deep and has been exceptionally healthy all season long.
Gillespie, Moore, Jermaine Samuels, Eric Dixon and Brandon Slater have missed a combined one game all season long while sixth man Caleb Daniels has missed just three games. If Moore is out for the Final Four — and his injury didn’t look minor — then Villanova will need someone from outside the rotation to step up.
No one else outside of those six players average more than 10 minutes per game. Chris Arcidiacono could be in line for a bigger role and will be counted on to score more than he has. The junior has averaged just 1.7 points in 9.8 minutes per game across 34 games. If Daniels slots into the starting lineup in place of Moore, Arcidiacono could be the first guard off the bench.
Houston falls short of back-to-back Final Fours
Houston ends the season at 32-6 and a win short of a second consecutive Final Four appearance.
The Cougars got to the Elite Eight thanks to stifling defense and defended well enough to get to another Final Four. But the lack of a go-to scorer was apparent against a tough Villanova team. That go-to scorer was Marcus Sasser, but he suffered a season-ending foot injury in December after averaging 18 points per game to begin the season.
Taze Moore led Houston with 15 points and no other Cougars player reached double figures. Kyler Edwards was 0-of-8 from three while Jamal Shead was 0-of-5.
