Michigan Basketball: Wolverines couldn’t muster enough offense in title game loss to Villanova
For a while, it looked like Michigan would make the national championship game versus Villanova a 12 round fight. But a knockout punch by the Wildcats sent the Wolverines home without a trophy in a 79-62 win.
This was going to be a tough game for Michigan to win. Very few outside of Ann Arbor believed they could truly pull off the upset, with the Vegas line heavily favoring Villanova coming into the title game.
But the Wolverines were gamed, with Mortiz Wagner leading the way with nine early points to get the lead midway through the first half. The defense also showed up, forcing Villanova to shoot 1/9 from three-point range to start out.
Unfortunately for the men in gold and blue, a great performance by a Wildcat point guard stole the show – and it wasn’t Jalen Brunson.
Donte DiVincenzo, the “sixth starter” for Villanova, went off for a 12-minute span. He made a couple of shots from deep and penetrated at will in the paint. He scored 18 first-half points and led a 23-7 run to give back the lead for the Wildcats.
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The issue all along was going to be whether Michigan could defend Villanova well enough for 40 minutes. And for 15 of them, they were able to do so. But stopping the country’s best scoring offense was too much, especially when DiVincenzo goes off for a career-high 31 points.
Michigan’s offense just wasn’t good enough to win this game. After the hot start, the Wildcats made it a point to stop Wagner for the rest of the game, which for the most was able to do. He finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, in what’s likely his final game as a Wolverine. He has a year of eligibility left, but his individual run in this year’s NCAA Tournament has elevated his draft stock big-time.
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman doesn’t have any eligibility left but went out with everything he had, with a team-high 23 points. It was a rough end for Kentucky transfer Charles Matthews, who went 3/9 for six points. Michigan shot 3/23 from three-point range, which wasn’t going to cut it against a team like Villanova.
Next: National Championship live blog
This loss will hurt for Michigan fans, but this run has cemented them among the upper-echelon programs in college basketball. And even if Wagner goes pro, a top-15 nationally ranked recruiting class is coming in. The Wolverines will not be taking a big step back whatsoever.
Michigan was the last team to lose in the 2017-18 college basketball season, but with Jon Beilein sticking around, odds are good the program will be coming back sooner rather than later.