NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: David McCormack #33 of the Kansas Jayhawks shoots the ball as Jermaine Samuels #23 of the Villanova Wildcats defends in the second half of the game during the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal. (Photo NEW ORLEANS, La. - Kansas and Villanova waged a 3-point shooting contest at the Final Four with one of them racing out to a big lead in the opening minutes and the other spending the rest of the night trying in vain to catch up.It all may sound familiar to basketball fans.But in a rematch of a rout by the Wildcats four years ago in San Antonio, it was the Jayhawks who joyously walked off the court with the win this time at the final buzzer Saturday night.
David McCormack muscled his way for 25 points, Ochai Agbaji was nearly perfect from the field and finished with 21, and the lone No.
1 seed to reach the national semifinals rolled to an 81-65 victory."This is what we were planning to do that season," said Agbaji, who was 6 of 7 from beyond the arc. "Everyone that was on that team, this is for them and they know it just as much as us."Now, the Jayhawks (33-6) hope to follow a familiar pattern against Duke or North Carolina on Monday night.
The last three times the Jayhawks and Wildcats have met in the tournament, the winner has gone on to win it all.Playing without injured guard Justin Moore, Villanova (31-7) watched as Kansas scored the game’s first 10 points and eventually built a 19-point cushion.