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Villanova-Michigan Recap
The Villanova Wildcats won their second NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship in three years after blowing out the Michigan Wolverines 79–62 in San Antonio tonight.
At the beginning of the first half, Michigan looked like they deserved to be there, even though they were the first team in NCAA history to avoid playing a top-five seed before the championship matchup. Michigan surged with 11 early points from forward Moritz Wagner. Michigan overpowered Villanova inside the paint early, as they did against Loyola-Chicago in a 12-point win in the Final Four matchup on Saturday when Wagner scored 24 points. Villanova quickly adjusted to Wagner after his initial scoring and held him to five points for the last 30 minutes of the game.
Villanova overcame their early seven-point deficit with a 14–3 run in the middle of the first half, led by guard Donte DiVincenzo, who averages 29 minutes per game for Villanova off the bench. DiVincenzo took over the game for Villanova, scoring a career-high 31 points with five 3-pointers.
DiVincenzo is not an unlikely hero for Villanova. He was always the first man off of the bench for Villanova this season, averaging 13 points per game. He shined in the tournament, scoring in the double digits in Villanova’s last three games.
Michigan stayed within a 12-point deficit for the majority of the second half. DiVincenzo made two threes in a row with eight minutes left to bring Villanova’s lead to 18, which Michigan could not recover from late in the game. Michigan had a few opportunities to bring the game to a single-digit deficit, but they struggled at the line, missing seven out of 18 attempts.
Villanova excelled on defense, limiting Michigan to an abysmal three made 3-pointers on 23 attempts. Michigan missed 13 3-pointers in a row late in the first half, allowing Villanova to build a big lead.
Michigan’s lack of depth hurt them tonight. The team got into foul trouble in the second half, forcing the team to use players deep on the bench. Jon Teske played seven minutes at center after Wagner recorded his fourth foul. Villanova was active on the boards after Wagner got into foul trouble with a plus 11 rebound differential throughout the game.
Michigan struggled when their bench could not score. The entire bench recorded seven points in a combined 45 minutes of playing time. The bench was 3–11 from the field and missed all six of their 3-point attempts.
Villanova’s starters struggled, shooting a combined 17–42 from the field. Jalen Brunson, Villanova’s season leading scorer, only made four field goals on 13 attempts. His performance tonight contrasts with his 18-point performance against Kansas and 27-point performance against West Virginia. Mikal Bridges was Villanova’s best starter with 19 points in his 36 minutes of game time.
Villanova proved throughout the entire tournament that they deserve the title, winning all six postseason games by double digits. The last team to accomplish this is North Carolina’s team in 2009. Villanova does not feature any seniors on this year’s championship roster, but Bridges and Brunson are both first-round draft prospects in this year’s NBA draft.
Villanova’s postseason success was not a fluke. Tonight, they were not perfect, but a strong showing by DiVincenzo and Bridges were enough for Villanova to take home the NCAA Championship trophy for the second time in three years.
