Kansas Jayhawks vs. Villanova Wildcats in Final Four: Lineups, tipoff time, TV, facts
The details
When/where: 5:09 p.m. Saturday at Caesars Superdome, New Orleans
TV/radio: TBS; WHB (810 AM)
About No. 2 seed Villanova (30-7): Villanova won the NCAA Tournament South Regional by defeating No. 5 seed Houston 50-44, No. 11 seed Michigan 63-55, No. 7 seed Ohio State 71-61 and No. 15 seed Delaware 80-60. … Like Kansas, the Wildcats have won nine straight games. … After suffering a 79-59 loss at Creighton on Dec. 17, Villanova has won 23 of 26 games. … Villanova has reached the Final Four for the third time since 2016. …The Wildcats are 20-3 in NCAA Tournament games since 2016 with a pair of NCAA national titles. … Villanova has led the NCAA in free-throw percentage since early February and enters this game with an 83.0% mark at the line. … Collin Gillespie is Big East player of the year for the second time. … The Wildcats, who used seven players against Houston in the Elite Eight (one was Chris Arcidiacono who played just two minutes) lost Justin Moore to a season-ending injury in the final moments of the regional final. Moore, in his third season as a Wildcats starter, was a second-team all-Big East pick this season and was part of the all-South Region team. The 6-4 guard averaged 34.4 minutes, 14.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per over 36 games. … Baylor beat Villanova 57-36 on Dec. 12 in Waco, Texas. Villanova scored just 15 points in the first half against the Bears. The 36 points were the fewest scored by the Wildcats in a game since Feb. 4, 1979, a 36-34 victory over Penn State. The previous low during Jay Wright’s 21-season tenure that began in 2001, was a 46-40 loss at UConn in February 2002.
About No. 1 seed Kansas (32-6): The Jayhawks are 4-5 all-time against Villanova, 3-5 in matchups between Bill Self and Jay Wright. … KU has reached the Final Four 16 times, four under Self. … Kansas’ 16 Final Four appearances are the fifth most in NCAA history, while Self’s four appearances tie for 13th most among coaches all-time. … Kansas is 12-14 in Final Four games all-time, including 3-3 under Self, beginning in 2004. The Jayhawks most recently appeared in the Final Four in 2018 (Kansas lost to Villanova 95-79) in San Antonio. … Kansas is making its 50th NCAA Tournament appearance and has a 113-48 record in the event. ... KU is 43-13 all-time as the tourney’s No. 1 seed. … Self is 44-16 in the NCAA Tournament in 19 seasons at KU. … KU reached the Final Four by beating Miami 76-50, Providence 66-61, Creighton 79-72 and Texas Southern 83-56. … KU is 113-48 in 50 years of NCAA Tournament action. … KU has won three national titles in NCAA Tournament format (1952, 1988, 2008). … Kansas has won 32 games for the first time since 2015-16 (33-5). ... Kansas is 4-3 when trailing at halftime. ... KU is 24-0 when holding its opponent under 70 points. … Senior Ochai Agbaji has started his last 114 games played. His 114 career starts tie Darnell Valentine for 11th on Kansas’ all-time list. … Agbaji has 1,619 points and is nine points away from passing Mark Randall for 15th in Kansas history. … Agbaji has 699 points this season, which ranks 10th on the all-time single-season list for Kansas. He passed Thomas Robinson (692 points in 2012) for 10th, and is two points away from passing Dedric Lawson (700 in 2019) for ninth. … Junior Christian Braun has 996 points in his career.
Projected lineups
P | No. | Villanova | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 23 | Jermaine Samuels | 6-7 | Sr. | 11.1 |
F | 43 | Eric Dixon | 6-8 | So. | 9.1 |
F | 3 | Brandon Slater | 6-7 | Sr. | 8.3 |
G | 14 | Caleb Daniels | 6-4 | Sr. | 10.2 |
G | 2 | Collin Gillespie | 6-3 | Sr. | 15.6 |
P | No. | Kansas | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 33 | David McCormack | 6-10 | Sr. | 10.1 |
F | 10 | Jalen Wilson | 6-8 | So. | 11.0 |
G | 30 | Ochai Agbaji | 6-5 | Sr. | 18.9 |
G | 2 | Christian Braun | 6-7 | Jr. | 14.3 |
G | 3 | Dajuan Harris | 6-1 | So. | 5.4 |
