NEW ORLEANS — When Kansas Coach Invoice Self sat down in current days to have a look at movie of his final journey to the Ultimate 4, he couldn’t abdomen watching greater than 12 minutes. It’s straightforward to think about his intestine churning, his palms getting clammy and his head beginning to spin.
“I get tics every time I give it some thought,” Self stated of the 2018 semifinal wherein the highlights might have effectively ended after Kansas scored the opening basket. The sport devolved right into a convincing defeat to Villanova, which might go on to win the nationwide championship.
Self and a handful of gamers quietly took that whipping — their second consecutive loss within the Ultimate 4 to Villanova — and made positive it didn’t occur towards on Saturday, surging to an early lead and keeping off the Wildcats down the stretch for an 81-65 victory.
Kansas will play the winner of Saturday night time’s different semifinal between North Carolina and Duke on Monday night time, permitting them to conquer one other reminiscence — dropping its most up-to-date championship recreation, in the identical Superdome a decade in the past.
The Jayhawks moved on because of a near-flawless efficiency from Ochai Agbaji, their fifth-year senior guard, who scored 21 factors and made all six 3-pointers he tried — together with the primary shot of the sport — and 23 factors by heart David McCormack. Mixed, the 2 Kansas anchors made 15 of 18 photographs.
They usually wanted to be that good.
Villanova, enjoying with out Justin Moore, who ruptured his Achilles’ tendon final week, tried to shoot its means again from an early 19-point deficit however its guard triumvirate — Collin Gillespie, Brandon Slater and New Orleans native Caleb Daniels — didn’t fairly have sufficient.
The Wildcats drew inside 64-58 on Jermaine Samuels’ 3-point play, however might get no nearer. When Christian Braun hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring, it gave Kansas a 71-59 lead and all however spelled the tip.
It was onerous to think about a worse begin for Villanova.
Kansas scored the primary 10 factors, Villanova turned the ball over on 4 consecutive possessions and Agbaji was on fireplace, making his first 4 photographs, all 3-pointers. When Agbaji sliced by the Villanova protection and dished to McCormack for a rim-rattling dunk, Kansas had thrust its result in 26-11 somewhat greater than 10 minutes into the sport, prompting a timeout by Villanova.
That Agbaji would play such a central function was onerous to see coming when he arrived in Lawrence 5 years in the past. He was one of many higher gamers in Kansas Metropolis and a very good pupil, however he didn’t even begin for his Beginner Athletic Union group, MoKan Elite, and so he got here to Lawrence as any individual whom the coaches hoped could be an excellent teammate and develop into a task participant.
As a substitute, he has morphed into one thing far more — an athletic wing with a lethal bounce shot who was the participant of the yr within the Massive 12, probably the most aggressive convention within the nation over the previous couple of seasons, and a first-team All-America.
Agbaji on Saturday night time was the fulcrum of a Kansas offense that whirled and minimize, the sound of sneakers persistently squeaking on the Superdome ground because the ball zipped across the perimeter, relegating one of many nation’s most decided defenses to ball chasing.
Complementing Agbaji on the perimeter was McCormack, the lumbering senior heart who has generally discovered himself on the flawed finish of defensive mismatches, however on this night time was a pressure inside towards Villanova heart Eric Dixon and the Wildcats skinny frontcourt.
When McCormack threw down a dunk over Samuels halfway by the second half, he let loose a roar and celebrated so fiercely — tapping himself on the top — that an official warned him on the way in which down the courtroom to chill it.
This was solely the newest trial of Villanova’s toughness and togetherness this season.
Within the waning seconds of the South regional remaining victory over Houston, Moore, a junior guard, ruptured his Achilles’ tendon. In a flash, the Wildcats had misplaced their greatest defender, an important ballhandler, fearless shotmaker and fierce chief. Because the Wildcats celebrated their victory, they did so solely after gathering round Moore who had a towel draped over his head on the group’s bench.
Villanova’s tight rotation had already been narrowed by the lack of reserve Jordan Longino, who tore cartilage in his knee throughout follow earlier than the beginning of the N.C.A.A. event.
If there was some consolation for the Wildcats, it’s their familiarity with managing a short-handed roster.
A yr in the past, they misplaced Gillespie to a knee damage on the finish of the common season. They regrouped to play effectively within the N.C.A.A. event, advancing to the spherical of 16 the place they led eventual champion Baylor halfway by the second half earlier than wilting.
Wright stated that on Monday he was watching movie and determining who would change Moore on out-of-bounds performs and on the press-break offense when he known as Gillespie to ask if he wanted to deal with the group about Moore’s absence.
“No means,” Gillespie informed him. “All people is nice. Don’t fear about it.”
The best way Saturday night time unfolded, maybe he ought to have.
