No. 1 Kansas Beats No. 2 Villanova in Final Four to Advance to 2022 NCAA Championship | Bleacher Report

Coming out in the second half, as Villanova was looking to start closing the gap, Agbaji kept making shots to halt any momentum for the opposition.

With Agbaji taking care of business behind the arc, McCormack was more than happy to hold his own in the paint. The 6’10” forward had no problem taking advantage of Villanova’s undersized frontcourt.

Villanova certainly didn’t go away quietly in this game. The second half is when the offense came alive, putting the pressure on Kansas to respond.

Two of the biggest plays saw McCormack use his size to halt the Wildcats’ momentum. He grabbed an offensive rebound off Dajuan Harris Jr.’s’ missed three and got a layup to extend the lead back to 10 at 52-42.

Three minutes later, Jalen Wilson blocked a jumper from Gillespie. McCormack got the ball on the other end of the court and slammed it home to put the Jayhawks up 62-50.

Coming out of a timeout after that possession, McCormack was taken off the floor for a brief rest. Villanova’s next two possessions resulted in two offensive rebounds and five points to get within seven at 62-55.

Christian Braun, who ranked second on the Jayhawks in scoring during the regular season, eventually got hot. He made two crucial buckets on back-to-back possessions, including his only three of him to make it a 71-59 game with 3:58 left to play.

The Jayhawks have scored at least 76 points in four of their five tournament wins thus far. They dropped 81 against Villanova on a night when three of their five starters were struggling to get in rhythm.

If the offense continues to play at this level, Kansas will be cutting down the nets on Monday and celebrating the fourth national title in school history.

Cold Start Sends Wildcats Home

Things could not have started worse for the Wildcats on Saturday night. They only had one shot attempt and committed three turnovers on their first four possessions to find themselves in a 10-0 hole.

Midway through the first half, McCormack and Agbaji had matched or exceeded Villanova’s point total.

Wright’s team came into the game unable to match the size Kansas had inside, especially with McCormack, so the strategy had to be won with speed and shooting.

It took a long time—too long, ultimately—before Villanova was able to play up to its usual standard. The Wildcats failed to hit the 30-point mark in a half for the third consecutive half dating back to the Elite Eight.

Villanova scored at least 30 points in every half in each of her first three tournament games.

The key adjustment that gave the Wildcats a glimmer of hope was Wright switching to a smaller lineup of perimeter shooters. McCormack lives in the paint on both ends of the court, so the numbers game worked for Villanova.

After Kansas opened the second half on an 8-3 run, Villanova rattled off eight consecutive points. Daniels and Brandon Slater made threes on back-to-back possessions to cap off the run.

The last time Villanova would get within single digits came at the 4:29 mark when Jermaine Samuels’ free throw made it a 68-59 score.

Kansas would score the next seven points to put the game out of reach.

Villanova’s bench was missing in action Saturday. Bryan Antoine scored the only points for the reserves (three). The Jayhawks bench only had five points, but they did have two players attempt at least one shot.

The story for Villanova all season was the offense. If it was scoring points in bunches, this team was hard to beat. If the defense had to step up, things got dicey.

The Wildcats had an off night with the ball, and it wound up being their undoing.

What’s Next?

Kansas will play the winner of North Carolina-Duke in the national championship game on Monday at 9 pm ET on TBS.