The Miami Hurricanes are trying to do something that no team in school history has ever done but it’s not going to be easy. This Wildcat team has crushed both of its opponents to date, though, beating UNC Asheville by 30 and Iowa by 19 in a game that was never in doubt.
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ORE-NOT GONE YET: So much has been made of Oregon’s No. 1 seed in the West, and the Ducks lost to Wisconsin each of the past two tournaments.
Arcidiacono’s scoring in the first eight minutes helped boost VU to a 17-10 lead with 11:58 on the first half clock. Angel Rodriguez scored 28 points to lead Miami.
This is the last tournament ride for senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono, a four-year starter.
Miami finished the regular season with a 27-3 (13-5 conference) record to come in third in the ACC. They advanced to their third Sweet 16 appearance by defeating #14 Buffalo 79-72 in the round of 64 and #11 Wichita State 65-57 in the round of 32. “His biggest challenge is he needs competition”. The top four scorers in their lineup are guards, speared by 6-foot-5 junior Josh Hart’s 15.4 points per game.
Miami has a tough road ahead of them with replacing McClellan and Rodriguez, but rest assured Larranaga has a way to rebuild. Villanova took its biggest lead at 29-14 on a 3-pointer by Jenkins with 8:35 left.
Villanova will face the Maryland-Kansas victor in Saturday’s championship game.
Good luck finding a team that wants to reach the Final Four more than Villanova – and good luck finding a team that can stop the Wildcats if they keep shooting like this.
The Wildcats shoot more 3s, and the Hurricanes get to the line more.
But to get the job done, Larranaga will have to draw out the best from Kamari Murphy and Tonye Jekiri as well as the Hurricanes to try to gain some advantage by controlling the rebounds that can spark their offensive running game. Villanova has averaged 70.3 points per game over the last 10 games, lower than its season average of 77.5. “We couldn’t stop each other in the first half, but we just got more stops after halftime”. As for the Villanova defense, it’s been a struggle for opposing teams to score on the Wildcats.
Through three games, they are shooting 64-for-100 (64 percent) on twos, 33-for-62 (53.2 percent) from three and 38-for-47 (80.9 percent) from the foul line with 61 assists.
Meanwhile, Villanova cut off the Hurricanes’ water with swarming defense that held them to 42.3 percent shooting in the second half. “We’ll see how far it takes us”.
According tooddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Villanova enters this game as the slight favorite, as the Wildcats are getting odds of -4 points against the Hurricanes.
The 2015-16 Villanova Wildcats are not the 2013-14 Wildcats or the 2014-15 Wildcats, and they’re proving it… emphatically.
Miami hung with the Wildcats for a half based on its own torrid shooting, hitting 7-of-11 3s and 14-of-21 from the floor to stay within 43-37 at intermission.
Though this was the first time the Hurricanes played “Ballroom Baseball” this season, it’s not the first time Larrañaga has used the game to keep his players loose.
The Villanova Wildcats have one of the best effective field goal percentages this season, ranking 17th in the country with an eFG% of 55.1%.
Whether it was nifty moves near the basket or a jumper that felt right all night, Perry Ellis was determined to do whatever he could to push top-seeded Kansas a little bit deeper in the NCAA Tournament.
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With the season now over, the end at UM has come for seniors such as Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan.
