Villanova earns another men’s Final Four berth with a 50-44 win over Houston

SAN ANTONIO — After Houston was vanquished, another Final Four secured, the net was cut down, a big portion of it hung around the neck of the head coach’s wife. Other strands were quickly knotted into the back of the Final Four hats on Villanova players, who know what they’re doing by now even in celebratory mode. This celebration lingered.

“We’re going in,” Collin Gillespie told a teammate, meaning into the locker room, maybe 20 minutes after it was over, 50-44 the final, except Gillespie himself still lingered, hugging his old travel-team and assistant high school coach who had gotten down to the front of the stands from 25 rows up. Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels went down the line across the court high-fiving a half-dozen Villanova students who had showed up and were chanting for players. Gillespie posed for a selfie with a fan. It didn’t take. Gillespie posed for Take II.

They may be limping into New Orleans, but the Villanova Wildcats, champions of the NCAA South Region, will show up at the Superdome next weekend after one of the most satisfying March runs in school history, even if this game was finished in slow motion, a key player off the floor completely.

In this anti-classic for the ages, Villanova used every possible second of the shot clock, knowing there was no chance to beat Houston just by firing at will from the three-point line. From that same line at the other end, Houston found the rim closed for business.

“I felt like, it was like playing against our own selves,” said Villanova guard Caleb Daniels, a key player in this one. “They were just as physical as we were. It was a literal street fight, every possession trying to get a rebound.”

Only two Villanova players, Samuels (16 points) and Daniels (12 points) scored in double digits. But that was enough since only one Houston player pulled off the same feat, and the Cougars made just 1 of 20 three-pointers.

“Our kids guarded.” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. “Man, did we guard. Our defense was spot on. It’s not easy to hold a team with that kind of -- Gillespie, Moore, Samuels -- everybody in their lineup can make a basket. Shoot, we held them to 50 points. We had a lot of opportunities. They didn’t go in.”

Nothing was easy about it. As that Final Four hung in the balance, a Villanova lead just into double digits, that trip to New Orleans so close Wildcats fans could taste the beignets, Villanova went over six minutes with only one field goal.

How it was accomplished adds to a dynasty. The last time any school made the NCAA men’s basketball Final Final three times in six tournaments was over a decade back: Michigan State in 2005, ‘09 and ‘10. The last time a school made it three times in such a span and won at least one of them? North Carolina won it twice, in 2005 and ‘09, and also made it in ‘08.

This is still in play for Villanova: The last time a school won it all three times in six tournaments? You’re going back to John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty, which won seven in a row from 1967-73.

This group is the fourth of the Jay Wright era to make the Final Four, and is still undefeated this March.

“I think we like barbecue,” Wright said of all the recent milestones down here. “We love Texas. We really do. It’s always nice weather when we come down here. People are so friendly. I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know what it is, man.”

Nothing easy. You saw it at the end, how Gillespie decided a 42-40 lead was no time to play off his back leg, whatever its condition. His pull-back jumper over a 6-foot-7 Cougars forward hit the net. When Justin Moore hit two free throws for a 46-40 lead, ‘Nova, the top free-throw shooting team in the nation, had made all 12 of its free throws.

Over? Not over? A Jamal Shead runner with 1:24 left drew Houston within 46-42, Houston tried to run two defenders at Gillespie in the backcourt but that maybe worked in Villanova’s favor, with Samuels getting a lane for one of his now-patented drives.

Justin Moore got to a loose ball with 35.4 seconds left, tying it up, and tried to get up, couldn’t. Teammates helped him rise to the foot that wasn’t injured, but he needed help off the court. He stayed there as a last-minute Houston shot missed off the rim, then Eric Dixon secured the rebound. Gillespie made two free throws. When it was over, teammates moved to Moore at the end of the bench, since he couldn’t move to them.

“Probably not good for Justin,” Wright said later, adding that an MRI would determine the extent of Moore’s injury, that had him leave the court on crutches. An X-ray determined no broken bones, but the rest will be determined.

Little plays became big. After a Samuels shot inside was blocked into the backboard for goaltending, Villanova had a 40-29 lead, just under 11 minutes left. Daniels forced a steal on Houston’s next possession, but Villanova guards missed three straight shots at the front rim while Houston scored on three straight possessions. A Daniels drive drew it out. A runner by Shead after a Cougars weakside rebound drew it out. Two free throws, it was 42-38.

Villanova got three shots on its next possession, three different players, none falling. Houston went down and scored inside, 42-40.

» READ MORE: Villanova’s Jermaine Samuels passed a stern test against Michigan with flying colors | Mike Sielski

None of it, as expected. Houston made none of the eight first-half threes it tried, which made Villanova’s 3-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc pretty good. Between the two teams, there were only six assists on the combined 15 baskets.

“Their timing is insane,” Samuels said of Houston’s ability to hit the offensive boards. “I don’t know how to describe it, how to put it in words. Every time they put the ball up on the glass, somehow, some way the ball just finds their hands. Whether it’s knocking it loose, whether it’s tapping it back.”

Gillespie was officially fine for this after he bent his left leg late in Thursday’s Sweet 16 win over Michigan. But with Gillespie, that essentially means he has four limbs, all attached. Gillespie was out there for 16 minutes in the first half, moving the ball from station to station, but took one shot in the half.

“We couldn’t get Justin or Collin in ball screens,” Wright said. “They just took it away. We couldn’t get Justin and Collin in post-ups. They took it away. It was hard to even get them back-door cuts. They are a great defensive team, great defensive team. They took away our two leading scorers, and other guys had to step up.”

Gillespie confirmed all that: “They did a really good job of pressuring the ball and blitzing ball screens. Whenever we got in the post, they blitzed a little bit as well. They definitely took away some things that normally we’re used to getting. I was just trying to make the right play. More times than not, it was giving the ball up, letting somebody else make the play or make the decision because they were soft blitzing me.”

As the Cougars began swarming the offensive boards, Moore had a big block inside of a Houston big man. Moore’s contested three-pointer from the wing pushed a narrowing lead back to 38-29. Earlier, a drive by Samuels turned into a three-point play. Villanova wasn’t depending on threes.

Villanova was up 27-20 at halftime after making all 10 of its free throws, keeping Houston to two buckets off the offensive glass, and committing just three turnovers.

Houston got to the offensive boards, and began converting from it, finally getting a three-pointer from one of the board tap-outs, drawing within 32-25, just over 16 minutes left.

Villanova threw the first punches. Houston’s first 11 possessions, the Cougars had one fastbreak basket to show for them, with three turnovers trying to get the ball inside. Villanova jumped out with a Samuels three-pointer from the wing and a Dixon pivot move inside.

After five straight Villanova misses, the ball flying around the perimeter without getting perfect looks but using up a lot of clock, the Wildcats pushed the lead to 7-2 after Brandon Slater made a couple of free throws.

Through the first 13 minutes, Houston had one offensive rebound, a contested ball that went out of bounds off Villanova. At that point, Villanova had gotten to the foul line for six free throws, and made them all. Its lead was 18-10. Those first minutes? Huge.