Once they finally seized the lead late in the first half, everything else fell into place for their 17th straight victory.
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Another 8-0 Wildcats run made it 22-10 with 10:49 remaining in the half.
“They played great”, said 81-year-old Rollie Massimino.
Selden was right there with 7-of-16 shooting to help Kansas earn a berth in Saturday night’s regional final against Villanova. Rasheed Sulaimon led Maryland with 18 points.
All four advanced Thursday night with pretty impressive performances, too. Miami canned better than 53 percent of its field goal attempts, including 10 of 17 on 3s, but couldn’t craft a defensive scheme that kept Villanova from getting the shots it desired.
Ryan Arcidiacono and the Wildcats have looked fantastic through three tourney games. He went 8-for-12 from the field and made 5 of 7 3-pointers.
“I think having no fear is what we’re seeing”.
“When guys have offensive games like today, it doesn’t really surprise us because we have a lot of talented offensive players”, noted Ochefu.
Villanova’s hot shooting continued as the Wildcats drubbed Miami, 92-69, in the first game of the night.
Villanova is seeking its first Final Four appearance since 2009 and second in the last 30 years. Miami and Villanova put on a three-point shooting exhibition in the first half, going a combined 13-of-19 from behind the arc.
“He just has a way of knowing what the team needs at each individual time”, Wright said of Arch. “I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to him yet, but I’m sure he thought, ‘OK, we’re in the Sweet 16, I’m a senior, I’m going to make sure we get going the right way”.
Arcidiacono, playing in his final NCAA tournament, wants to keep that run alive for as long as possible. It’s their third trip to the region final with coach Jay Wright.
To this point, Villanova’s played with an edge, a motivation, been disrespected by the country and the selection committee – and it’s all showed. It’s redemption after losses on the opening weekend each of the past two NCAA Tournaments. “That’s all I got to say”, Brian Stiteler of Conshohocken. “It’s just a great feeling”.
Daniel Ochefu added 17 points, and Josh Hart had 14 for Villanova, which shot 62.7 percent (32 of 51).
“They just tell me to be more aggressive, and that’s what I try to do”, said Ellis, who also scored 27 against Oklahoma on January 4. “But they wanted it more I guess, because they outplayed us”.
Led by McClellan’s 26 points, the Hurricanes’ shooting didn’t sag substantially, but Miami was tentative on every 50-50 ball, losing almost every one of the many opportunities to the Wildcats, who wouldn’t allow one play to contribute to another early end to their season. Over the next three minutes, Sheldon McClellan and Angel Rodriguez traded off four consecutive three-pointers to cut the deficit to 29-26 in the blink of an eye.
The Miami Hurricanes (27-7) are coming from a 65-57 win over Wichita State.
NOTES: This was the first time that Miami and Villanova had met since the Hurricanes left the Big East after the 2003-04 season for the Atlantic Coast Conference….
“Strokes come and go, but when you’re a shooter and have a shooter’s mentality, every time you get the ball, you think it’s going in”, Jenkins said.
“Any defense we played, they had an answer for”, Miami forward Kamari Murphy said.
“We had no way to stop them”. They overcame all the doubters and all the predictions to be one of the last 16 teams standing in college basketball and that is something you can not take for granted.
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Villanova’s lead was six at halftime; Miami would never get that close again.
