“In an era when basketball is saturated with incredible talent, Buddy Hield found a way to stand out”, said Eric Oberman, executive director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
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When Buddy Hield returned to his locker following Oklahoma’s stunning 44-point Final Four loss to Villanova on Saturday night, one of the first texts he saw on his phone was from Denzel Valentine.
Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said the one-sided nature of his team’s defeat had hurt. “I feel bad for Oklahoma”.
Villanova faces a huge, talented, experienced North Carolina team at 9:18 p.m. Monday at NRG Stadium for the national championship (see Tale of the Tape).
Junior Josh Hart led the way Saturday for the Wildcats with 23 points and 8 rebounds, while senior Ryan Arcidiacono contributed 15 points. Trailing by 14 points at halftime, the Sooners (29-8) trimmed the Wildcats’ lead to 46-37 four minutes into the second half. All of this combined to obliterate the Final Four margin of victory record.
The spark came when Wildcats forward Kris Jenkins threw over the top of the Oklahoma press to guard Mikal Bridges, who finished the fast break with a dunk and was fouled. The stats about NRG Stadium being a disgusting place to shoot went out the window along with the Sooners’ chances at playing for their first title. A 10-0 run midway through the second half changed things, but that’s when Marcus Paige hit the team’s first long-range shot; he and his teammates would make four of their final five attempts, perhaps giving them some confidence for tonight.
“As we did it in practice, I started to find ways we could still remain aggressive in it”, Wright said. “The driving lanes, able to get a couple of shots to fall, when that happens, able to kick out and get some guys some shots”.
So now the Wildcats get North Carolina, the No. 1 team to begin this season and the most talented across all of college basketball, a roster of size and skill and depth and every attribute you would expect in a team expected to win the national title. “It’s just we’re the same person”.
Hield kept putting on and off his familiar white sleeve on his right arm.
Oklahoma did not bring their A game turning the ball over 17 times and they only scored 23 points in the 2nd half, while Villanova more than doubled that putting up 53 points.
The entire Sooners team was stunted by the Wildcat’s defense, shooting 19 of 60.
Needless to say, Hield’s draft stock just went back up after taking a small hit last night. Initially connecting through Tum Tum Nairn – Michigan State’s point guard who is close friends with Hield, a fellow Bahamas native – two of college basketball’s biggest stars have since developed a friendship that has included more than one encouraging text after a tough loss.
Both teams can play inside-out, and they can do it well.
In all, North Carolina offered a reminder of the days before the 3-point shot was invented, when the way to really beat a zone and Boeheim’s 2-3 is the best in the game was to make blink-of-an-eye passes in and around the paint and crash the offensive glass to take advantage of a defense that doesn’t put bodies on bodies when the ball goes up. The Wildcats have been excellent at disrupting opponents before letting them even get into their offense.
“Just turned up the defensive intensity”.
Jordan Woodard led the Sooners with 12 points.
On December 7 at Hickam Air Force Base/Joint Base Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Oklahoma beat Villanova 78-55.
Villanova flipped the script by slapping Oklahoma with the biggest blowout in the history of the Final Four.
Hart capped the half for Villanova with a 3-pointer with 8 seconds left that made it 42-28.
The Wildcats had as many assists (nine) as Oklahoma did turnovers. They made 71.4 percent of their field goals, second in Final Four history to Villanova’s 1985 performance against Georgetown.
“I’m happy we had one of those games, we made every shot”, Wright said.
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“When we didn’t have Daniel, we were kind of one-dimensional”, Wright said. We weren’t this dialed in.
