Villanova embarrasses Oklahoma 95-51, advances to national championship game

Oklahoma knew it would be in for a struggle with Villanova on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament semifinals. But neither the Sooners nor the Wildcats could have expected an epic margin of victory.

In a meeting of two No. 2 seeds, the Wildcats beat the Sooners 95-51 in the biggest blowout in Final Four history.

The margin was 14 at halftime. Oklahoma cut it to nine early in the second half. Villanova started to gradually pull away, then sprinted to the final score.

“Just one of those nights,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said.

Defense created the early separation, as the game started out like the Wildcats’ victory over Kansas in the South Region title game last week.

But incredible shooting is what created the embarrassment.

The Wildcats shot 66.7 percent in the first half — and improved in the second.

Villanova shot 71.4 percent for the game, making 34 of 49 shots.

Only one team has shot better in Final Four history — the same Wildcats, who made 78.6 percent in their upset of Georgetown for the 1985 championship.

“They had a great first half,” Oklahoma forward Ryan Spangler said. “They didn’t miss many shots. I didn’t think they could do that again in the second half. But they did.”

Both teams cleared their benches with 2:39 remaining. Villanova players kept making shots. The Sooners kept missing theirs.

The record for winning margin in a national semifinal or championship game had been 34. Villanova entered its name in the record book and will meet North Carolina or Syracuse in the NCAA title game on Monday.

To reach the Final Four, Villanova knocked out the Big 12’s top two ranked teams, and the point of initial separation occurred in similar fashion.

A tight game about midway through the first half changed when Villanova started to put on a defensive clinic.

After a basket by Jamuni McNeace gave the Sooners a 17-16 lead with 12:31 left in the first half, Villanova answered with intense pressure.

Over the next 7 minutes, the Sooners committed six turnovers, and Villanova’s lead swelled. The Wildcats, especially Josh Hart, were unstoppable on offense.

If that sounds familiar to Kansas fans, it should. Villanova created separation when the Jayhawks committed 10 first-half turnovers. KU retook the lead in the second half before losing 64-59.

Once the Wildcats took the lead Saturday, they didn’t come close to losing it, and the game dissolved into an embarrassing margin for the Sooners. At one point in the second half, Villanova went on a 25-0 run.

The outcome brought an end to the college career of Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, and he went out on one of his worst efforts of the season.

“That’s one of the best teams I’ve played in college,” Hield said.

On the night he became the Big 12’s career scoring leader, Hield finished with just nine points.

“We guarded him as a team,” Hart said. “Everybody was locked in.”

Hield’s NCAA Tournament run had been magical, with a pair of games in which he exceeded 35 points and a 29.3 tournament scoring average entering the Final Four.

But after swishing his first attempt, a deep three-pointer to open the game’s scoring, Hield was hardly heard from again. He missed his next seven three-pointers, and nobody else picked up the slack as the Sooners fell helplessly behind.

Villanova’s offense was amazing. The Wildcats not only got many of the shots they wanted, they also got the favorable bounces and rolls, like a Ryan Arcidiacono three-point attempt that bounced high off the front rim and fell in.

The marksmanship brought to a screeching halt the idea that NRG Stadium was unfriendly to shooters.

In the previous Final Four here in 2011, Connecticut made two three pointers the entire weekend and won the championship.

It also a wild reversal of the previous meeting between the teams. On Dec. 7 in Honolulu, the Sooners beat Villanova by 23 points. That day, the Wildcats missed 28 of 32 three point attempts.

In reaching the Final Four for the first time since 2002, Oklahoma ended its marvelous season at 29-8.

Hield became the Big 12’s career scoring leader on a layup early in the game. He passed LaceDarius Dunn, who finished his Baylor career in 2011 with 2,285 points.

Hield finished his career with 2,291 points, but the ending was bitter for him and his teammates.

This story was originally published April 2, 2016 at 7:28 PM.