NCAA Tournament: Villanova-Miami matchup a thriller in the making

Villanova and Miami appear evenly matched ahead of their NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 meeting in Louisville on Thursday.

You might excuse coach Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats if they breathed a huge sigh of relief following the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend. After all, the Big Dance’s first few days haven’t provided many rosy memories for Wright’s team in recent years.

In 2014, the Wildcats were the No. 2 seed in the East Region and got bounced in the round of 32 by Connecticut. The following season, Villanova took a No. 1 East Region seed into their second game against N.C. State only to be sent home by the Wolfpack.

Thankfully for the Wildcats, it’s now 2016. And Villanova finally made it out of the tourney’s opening weekend with wins over UNC Asheville and Iowa.

Their reward? A Sweet 16 matchup against Miami.

Can Villanova continue the momentum against Jim Larranaga’s Hurricanes at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville on Thursday?

To do so, Wright and company will need to deal with a balanced lineup of stellar performers who have been impressive through two NCAA Tournament contests.

If that sounds familiar to Wildcat fans, it should. Villanova will be staring at a near mirror image of itself once action tips-off against the Hurricanes.

Miami dispatched Buffalo in their opener before downing always-tricky Wichita State in the round of 32.

Against the Bulls, Larranaga’s team showcased the type of balance that can carry teams to the Final Four with five players scoring in double-figures.

In their matchup with the Shockers, the Hurricanes jumped out to a big lead early and then held off a second half push to make their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2013.

Angel Rodriguez has been outstanding for Miami in the first two games, scoring 24 points against Buffalo before adding 28 points on 9-of-11 shooting versus Wichita State. While not the tallest guard at 5-foot-11, the Puerto Rican dynamo combines with fellow-senior Sheldon McClellan to give Larranaga’s team a potent one-two punch from the back court

McClellan has paced Miami’s offense as he is averaging 16 points per game on 49.9 percent shooting. The Texas transfer is also a 38.9 percent shooter from three-point range and connects on more than 83 percent of his trips to the foul line. In other words, McClellan does everything well.

More from Busting Brackets

Villanova counters with their own back court combination of Josh Hart and Ryan Arcidiacono to provide a compelling matchup of guards for Thursday.

Hart averages 15.4 points per outing on 51.1 percent shooting while Arcidiacono puts up 12 points on a game-by-game basis. How the two sets of guards handle one-another will go a long ways towards determining who advances to Saturday’s Elite Eight contest.

Miami’s Davon Reed and Villanova’s Kris Jenkins offer another interesting matchup to watch.

Both are 6-foot-6 and average double-figures offensively with Reed scoring at an 11.2 clip while Jenkins puts up 13.3 points per night.

Considering Miami’s seven-foot Tonye Jekiri and Villanova’s 6-foot-11 Daniel Ochefu will also undoubtedly find themselves paired-up in the post, Thursday’s game offers plenty of intrigue.

As is customary in March, defense could ultimately decide which team moves on.

Miami gives up 66.7 points on 42.6 percent shooting while Villanova surrenders 63.6 points and 40.1 percent marksmanship. They’re also proficient from the free throw line as Villanova hits 77.5 percent of their attempts with Miami checking-in at an even 75 percent.

Taking all of it into account, the two sides offer mirror images of one-another in several ways. Both are led by stellar upper-class guards and have multiple sources of offense from which to draw. They also defend well and make free throws at a high percentage.

More busting brackets: Best games of Round One

With such similar makeups, a play here or there could make all the difference. The only question is which side will step forward in crunch-time with the Elite Eight beckoning.

Home/March Madness