NEW ORLEANS — As Villanova’s starters were introduced to the sold-out crowd, Jay Wright sat on the bench, his arm wrapped around Justin Moore.

It was a touching moment, the Hall of Fame coach comforting his injured star. It also symbolized the two hours to follow: The Wildcats needed Moore to win this game, and he desperately wanted to be out there. But, a heartbreaking torn Achilles injury got in the way.

Without their best perimeter defender and second-leading scorer, the Wildcats didn’t have enough firepower or capable perimeter defenders against the top-seeded Jayhawks’ balanced inside-out attack. Villanova couldn’t contain the two Kansas stars, David McCormack and Ochai Agbaji, and fell to the surging Jayhawks, 81-65, in the opener of this highly anticipated Final Four of national powers at the Caesars Superdome on Saturday. Kansas moves on to Monday’s national championship game, its first trip there in a decade, to face the Duke-North Carolina winner. It is in search of its first title since 2008.

“Maybe at the start of the game [when we fell behind 10-0] we know what we’re doing when [Justin’s] in there, we know our rotation,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “At the beginning of the game, when a team gets it going like that on the perimeter we usually go smaller. We bring Caleb [Daniels] off the bench. It’s things like that. You’ve got to give them credit in recognizing that and that we didn’t have the ability to do that.”

In their third Final Four in six years, the Wildcats absorbed a number of body blows: A 10-0 deficit out of the gate, a canyon-sized 19-point hole late in the first half and a 16-point divot. They fought back, responding after it looked like they would get blown out early, and putting together multiple mini-runs. Ultimately, though, Villanova was overwhelmed by the deeper and more talented team — payback for the Wildcats’ lopsided Final Four victory over Kansas in 2018.

“It was kind of a little bit of a reversal,” Jayhawks coach Bill Self said.

Villanova won it all that year. Kansas (33-6) certainly looks capable of cutting down the nets Monday night.

The bruising 6-foot-10 McCormack owned the paint, notching 25 points and nine rebounds, but it was the early onslaught from Agbaji (21 points) that Wright felt opened the game up. He hit two 3-pointers in the 10-0 run to start the game, spreading Villanova out and giving McCormack room to maneuver. Once he began producing in the paint, the Wildcats (30-8) had to pick their poison, which enabled the Jayhawks to get any shot they wanted and hit on a sizzling 54 percent from the field.

“Right to start the game off, you go down 10-0 against a team that good, you’re in trouble,” Wright said. “And you’ve got to try to fight back and you’ve got to believe you can and we believed we could. But if you look back on it, going down 10-0 and letting [Agbaji] get it going at the start, arguably one of the best shooters in the country, that was not the way we planned it.”

Villanova got to within six with 6:10 left, but never closer. Kansas responded by scoring 11 of the game’s next 12 points, putting away this national semifinal. The run fittingly started with a McCormack offensive rebound and jumper. The result was similar to a year ago, when the Wildcats pushed eventual national champion Baylor, but was outclassed down the stretch. In that game, star point guard Collin Gillespie (17 points) was unavailable due to an injury. Moore was the injured player Saturday night and Kansas took advantage of its shorthanded opponent.

With just over a half-minute left, Wright emptied his bench, taking out his two fifth-year seniors, Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels. Gillespie, in particular, had meant so much to the program as the two-time Big East Player of the Year and national champion, a player who improved so much from his freshman year until his exit in this game.

“I feel as if Collin is a legend of Villanova basketball,” Daniels said. “He’s what Villanova basketball is.”