College basketball powerhouses Kansas, Villanova are 4-4 in head-to-head matchups
Pre-game hype surrounding Saturday’s Kansas-Villanova college basketball game must seem awfully familiar to fans of the tradition-rich programs.
One year ago — on Dec. 15, 2018 — the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks, who had just claimed the top spot in the AP poll, downed the No. 17-ranked Wildcats, 74-71, in a rare 11 a.m. contest at Allen Fieldhouse.
Fast forward to this week. On Saturday (Dec. 21, 2019), Kansas, which ascended to No. 1 on Monday, will tangle with No. 18-rated ‘Nova again at 11 a.m. Central time, but this time at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
KU, which entered the 2018 game having dropped three straight contests to Villanova, this time won’t have the revenge factor on its side. It will be ‘Nova hoping to atone for last year’s defeat in Lawrence.
The two programs that each have won three NCAA Tournament titles (KU in 2008, 1988 and 1952; Villanova in 2018, 2016 and 1985) are tied 4-4 in the all-time series.
Here’s a look at the head-to-head battles between bluebloods KU and Villanova, starting first with last year’s game:
Kansas 74, Villanova 71, Dec. 15, 2018, Allen Fieldhouse
Kansas senior guard Lagerald Vick, who left school before the end of the season, scored 29 points, while senior forward Dedric Lawson added 28 in a wild two-man scoring spree.
“Both of them had great games,” Self said on Tuesday. “I watched last year’s game today. They (Wildcats) play so hard. They compete every possession. It was really a good game last year. We had two play unbelievable to win it.”
Vick said he was motivated in trying to atone for a season-ending loss to Villanova his junior year in the Final Four and his freshman season in the South Regional final of the NCAA Tournament.
“I left it all out there playing for the team, coaches and fans, knowing how much that win would mean for the program,” Vick said after the game.
Lawson hit 10 of 15 shots and 7 of 9 free throws. He also had 12 rebounds. Vick was 9 of 15 from the field, 8 of 10 from the line and 3 of 8 from three-point range. He also had seven rebounds.
KU improved to 9-0 while Villanova dropped to 8-4.
“We are 1-2 against Villanova,” Self, who actually is 3-4 all-time in games coached against Villanova’s Jay Wright, “because we beat them in the Sweet 16 (in 2008). They beat us in the Elite Eight and they beat us in the Final Four. So we are 1-2.
“The game today was nice,” Self added after his squad survived a 29-point performance from Phil Booth, who hit 11 of 21 shots (4 of 11 from three-point range). Villanova forward Eric Paschall, who was hounded by guard Marcus Garrett, scored 17 points but missed 6 of 10 shots.
Wright, who is now in his 19th season at Nova, recalled that Allen Fieldhouse was “the hardest place we’ve ever played to try and make calls (on the bench to his players). We had good execution, even when it’s so loud.”
The Wildcats hit 8 of 28 threes after making 18 against KU in 40 tries in the Final Four game in 2018. KU which led by seven with 1:10 left, connected on 11 of its final 12 free throws in the final 70 seconds.
“We needed one more missed foul shot,” Wright said, praising Lawson for making two free throws with 8.5 seconds left, upping KU’s lead to 74-70.
VU’s Collin Gillespie (15 points) went to the line with 1.9 seconds left. He hit the first free throw to cut the deficit to 74-71, then purposely missed the second free throw. Saddiq Bey chased the rebound but fell out of bounds with under one second left.
KU outrebounded Villanova, 35-26.
“I know the fans have been waiting on this game all year. That’s all we were hearing all around campus, like, ‘We just can’t wait till you play Villanova,’’’ KU’s Garrett said. “The students were supposed to go home for break, and they stayed just for the game. They gave us energy, with it being an early game. We basically didn’t have to create our own energy, because they were our energy for us,” Garrett added.
Villanova 95, Kansas 79, NCAA Final Four, March 31, 2018, San Antonio, Texas
In a showdown between a pair of No. 1 seeds, the Wildcats buried KU amid a barrage of three-pointers.
Villanova hit a Final Four-record 18 threes in 40 attempts. The 18 treys tied for the most three-pointers made against KU in any game. Iowa State cashed 18 against KU in 2017 and Nebraska 18 in 2002.
The Wildcats tied the Final Four record for threes in a game in the first half alone, making 13 in 26 tries in opening leads of 22-4 and 47-32.
Eric Paschall scored a game-high 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting. He was 4 of 5 from three. Jalen Brunson scored 18 points and dished six assists. Omari Spellman scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
KU’s Devonté Graham scored a team-leading 23 points. He was 4 of 8 from three. Malik Newman scored 21 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Overall the Jayhawks were 7 of 21 from three.
“They got anything they wanted early,” Self said. “It gets to 22-4 and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh. We’re seven minutes in, and we’re going to have to play just about perfect to get back.’’’
Down by 15 at half, the Jayhawks (31-8), who totaled eight assists to Villanova’s 20, trailed by 22 points with 13:14 to play and 14 points with 9:12 left.
Villanova (35-4) went on to defeat Michigan in the NCAA title game, 79-62, for its second national title in three seasons.
Villanova 64, Kansas 59, NCAA Elite Eight, March 25, 2016, Louisville
No. 2-seed Villanova held forward Perry Ellis to a season-low four points on 1-of-5 shooting. Graham scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Wayne Selden and Frank Mason had 16 points for No. 1 seed KU (33-5).
Graham was 5 of 9 from three, while Selden and Mason combined to go 1 of 12 The Jayhawks hit 46 percent of their shots, but just 6 of 22 threes in losing for the first time in 18 games. Villanova (33-5) hit 40.4 percent of its shots and was 4 of 18 from three.
Kris Jenkins, Josh Hart and Ryan Arcidiacono scored 13 points apiece for Villanova, which converted 18 of 19 free throws to KU’s 7 of 11.
Graham fouled out with 41 seconds left. He dove into the legs of a Wildcat as he lost possession. A foul on Villanova instead of Kansas would have sent Graham to the line.
Graham said the Jayhawks, “were just anxious, extremely hyped and we were shooting it kind of hard, shooting it back rim or over the rim. We just couldn’t knock down shots we normally do. Wayne missed a couple of threes and so did I. We just couldn’t knock them down.”
Villanova 63, Kansas 59, Battle4Atlantis semifinal, Nov. 29, 2013
Villanova’s Arcidiacono hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 10.1 seconds left to erase a 59-58 deficit and lift the unranked Wildcats to victory over No. 2-ranked KU.
It was Villanova’s only basket in the final seven minutes and Arcidiacono’s first hoop in six attempts.
KU used a 13-1 run to erase an 11-point deficit and take the lead on Mason’s three-point play with 33 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Arcidiacono snapped Villanova’s seven-minute stretch without a field goal by hitting a corner three.
Mason had a chance to regain the lead for Kansas, but missed a deep three with three seconds left.
Darrun Hilliard and Dylan Ennis each scored 14 points, while JayVaughn Pinkston scored 13 points and James Bell added 10 for Villanova (6-0). Mason scored 12 points and Ellis 11 points. Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid scored 10 points each for KU (5-1).
Kansas 72, Villanova 57, NCAA Sweet 16, March 28, 2008, Detroit
Brandon Rush scored 16 points, Russell Robinson 15 and Mario Chalmers 14 as No. 1 seed KU blasted No. 12-seed Villanova.
Robinson hit three three pointers in the first half and scored 13 points as KU (34-3) rolled to leads of 26-10 and 41-22. Robinson also guarded Scottie Reynolds, who scored just six points the first half and finished with 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
Current KU video coordinator Jeremy Case, who entered the game at the end of the half to protect Chalmers, Rush and Sherron Collins, who had two fouls apiece, hit a three to close the first-half scoring.
“Russell carried us the first half,” said guard Sherron Collins, who, suffering from tonsillitis, finished with four points and four assists in 21 minutes. “He did the job on Scottie. Like coach Self said, Russell is the heartbeat of our team. He did a great job,” Collins added.
Self was most impressed with senior leader Robinson.
“The key to the game was his defensive play on Scottie,” Self said.
The Wildcats (22-13), who were down by as many as 21 points, never sliced the deficit below 12 the second half. KU was outscored, 35-31, in the second half partly because Rush and Chalmers picked up their third fouls early.
KU went on to defeat Davidson in the Elite Eight, then beat North Carolina and Memphis in San Antonio for the NCAA title.
Villanova 83, Kansas 62, Jan. 22, 2005, Philadelphia
Allen Ray hit four threes and scored 27 points while Curtis Sumpter hit five three-pointers and netted 25 as unranked Villanova handed No. 2-ranked KU its first loss of the season in 15 games.
The Wildcats (10-4), who led by seven points at halftime, opened the second half on a 15-2 run and after giving up a three, scored 16 straight to bury the Jayhawks (14-1).
Sumpter and Ray combined to hit 15 of 26 shots. Overall the Wildcats were 12 of 19 from three and 15 of 16 from the line.
Wayne Simien scored 15 points and J.R. Giddens and Sasha Kaun 11 apiece for the Jayhawks, who committed 22 turnovers overall and trailed by as many as 32 points in the second half.
“It was a guard’s game. It was a post game. I think it would be easier to put it, it was ‘their game,’” Self said.
KU had trouble returning to Lawrence after the 21-point loss. A blizzard dropped more than a foot of snow on Philadelphia, canceling KU’s charter flight after the Saturday night game.
It took nine hours of travel time Sunday to return to campus.
“It was snowing sideways. You couldn’t see a foot in front of you,” former KU assistant Tim Jankovich, now head coach at SMU, recalled. “The great part of the whole trip is we always have a bus waiting in Topeka. It turned out our driver had torn his pants at some point and called somebody to meet him to bring him pants. We’ve got to sit on the bus while somebody brought him pants. That’s another good 15 minutes. It was our lovely couple days.”
Kansas 86, Villanova 79, Jan. 2, 2004, Allen Fieldhouse
Keith Langford scored 24 points and Simien 23. David Padgett contributed 15 points and nine rebounds as the No. 13-ranked Jayhawks (8-2) tripped unranked Villanova (8-3). Langford scored seven points in a tiebreaking 23-5 run for the Jayhawks, who hit 35 of 41 free throws.
It was 38-38 at halftime and 43-43 early in the second half following a three by Mike Nardi. J.R. Giddens then hit a three, followed by two free throws from Langford and Simien and KU led by seven.
Jeff Hawkins sank a three and Langford two free throws to cap the big run and give KU a 66-48 lead with nine minutes remaining.
Ray, who had 22 points, led a surge that closed the gap to 80-75 with :55 left. Aaron Miles hit two free throws at :50, then Ray scored to cut the gap to 82-77 with 38 seconds remaining. Miles swished two free throws at :34 to put Kansas ahead 84-77.
Sumpter totaled 18 points for Villanova, while Mike Nardi had 16 and Randy Foye 11.
Kansas 55, Villanova 49, NIT quarterfinals, March 18, 1968, New York
Rodger Bohnenstiehl scored 15 points, Dave Nash 13 and JoJo White 10 for KU.
Johnny Jones scored 11 of his 18 points the first half as Villanova led, 31-25, at the break. However, KU coach Ted Owens switched defenses and the Jo Jo White-led Jayhawks embarked on an 11-0 run to open the final half.
Sammy Sims of Villanova finally scored six minutes into the half as the Wildcats cut the gap to 36-33. KU increased the margin to 47-36 before Jones scored ‘Nova’s next field goal almost eight minutes later.
Joe Crews scored eight points in the final four minutes to make the score reasonably close.
Philly.com noted that “Kansas had been playing basketball since 1898, Villanova since 1920, but until that 1968 NIT game, they’d never met. That night, before an NIT-record crowd of 19,500, the Wildcats blew a halftime lead and couldn’t recover from the 14-2 Jayhawks run that began the second half. The loss left them with a 19-9 record, their third straight season below 20 wins.”
KU (22-8) went on to beat St. Peter’s in the semis, 58-46, then lost to Dayton in the NIT final, 61-48.
