WATCH: Villanova loses star player to injury, punches ticket to Final Four
The No. 2-seeded Villanova Wildcats overcame an abysmal shooting night to defeat the No. 5-seeded Houston Cougars on Saturday, punching a ticket to the Final Four, but the Wildcats lost a star player, Justin Moore, in the process.
Moore’s status, at least for now, remains unclear. However, given the graphic view of his injury, he could very well miss the duration of the NCAA Tournament.
Late in the second half of Villanova’s 50-44 win over Houston, Moore tried to dribble towards the basket. He collapsed to the ground in pain and turned it over after suffering an injury, and the replay shows a clear view of Moore’s right calf/achilles appearing to pop as he plants his foot.
In an otherwise low-scoring game, Moore was still one of Villanova’s leading scorers, though he finished with eight points, the third-most among all Wildcats. His eight points on 2-of-10 shooting was far from ideal, but it represented the entire Villanova team on Saturday, as the Wildcats shot just 28.8 percent from the field — and still managed to beat Houston. A slow-moving defensive game saw Villanova shoot 28.8 percent from the field and 23.8 percent from deep, while Houston shot 29.8 percent from the field and a tumultuous 5 percent (1-for-20) from three-point range. The difference, in the end, came at the charity stripe: Houston shot just 9-of-14 from the free-throw line in the loss, while Villanova shot a perfect 15-of-15 from the free-throw line, including 2-of-2 from Moore before his injury.
With the win, Villanova has won the South Region and will head to New Orleans for the Final Four. Under Jay Wright, Villanova has punched three Final Four tickets in the last six NCAA Tournament appearances.
“They’re calm,” Wright said of his players after an incredibly close game. “They are, but I’m not. That’s the beauty of it. They played tough. We want to give Houston a lot of credit. An unbelievable defensive team. It was hard to score for both teams. That’s what good defense is all about. They were good, but we were good defensively.”
As for what makes Villanova’s latest trip to the Final Four so special?
“These guys, coming back — I get emotional when I talk about these guys,” Wright said, fighting back tears when talking about Villanova’s upperclassmen.