SAN ANTONIO — The Winners never blink. They almost always make the right play. They have the unwavering trust of Jay Wright, arguably the best coach in college basketball.
The Winners are selfless. They have no ego. Nothing is more important than being the best version of themselves. There is no Disease of Me on Villanova.
The Winners can play chess when others are playing checkers. If there is a way to win, more often than not they will find it.
They recognize Winning Time quicker than the other guys. They have no fear of the consequences when the game is on the line.
The Winners do not care who gets the credit. The Winners celebrate a culture where there can be a different hero every night.
The Winners won national championships in 2016 and 2018, and they are stalking another one after beating Michigan 63-55 on Thursday night to advance to the South Region final on Saturday night against the Arizona-Houston survivor.
The Winners execute the game plan with cold-blooded defense and heart and pride, so it didn’t matter to Jermaine Samuels (22 points, seven rebounds) that he was conceding 6 inches and 30 pounds to 7-foot-1, 260-pound Michigan big man Hunter Dickinson (15 points, 6-for-16 shooting, 15 rebounds).
“I wanted to stay mobile,” Samuels said. “Knowing I had my teammates behind me, that gave me all the confidence I needed.”
Jermaine Samuels (right) and Collin Gillespie celebrate during the second half of Villanova’s 63-55 win over Michigan in the Sweet 16. APWhen Wright took him out at the end, the coach told Samuels he was proud of his toughness … on both ends of the floor.
“That was a gutty effort, man,” Wright said. “I know he’s exhausted.”
The Winners never surrender to fatigue, because they know it makes cowards of them all. Samuels’ task on this night, with burly Eric Dixon in foul trouble, was to run Dickinson, the Michigan big man, ragged on the offensive end and stand up to him on the defensive end.
“We were trying to hold our ground, so instead of taking a 5-foot jump hook, it was an 8-, 10-foot hump hook,” Wright said.
Collin Gillespie drives in between two Michigan defenders during Villanova’s Sweet 16 win. Getty ImagesThe Winners do all the little things. When Samuels took a charge early in the second half on DeVante Jones, he screamed in delight and punched the AT&T Center air with his right fist.
After Eli Brooks cut Michigan’s nine-point deficit nearly midway through the second half with a 3-pointer, Caleb Daniels swatted away a Moussa Diabate layup try from behind.
Samuels, Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore had combined for 30 of Villanova’s 31 halftime points, but Daniels awakened from his slumber and finished with eight points and nine rebounds. He was missing his shots from the Main Line (0-for-5), so he drove to the hoop past Dickinson, and converted the three-point play that made it Villanova 50, Michigan 41. Soon he made a key block that led to a shot clock violation.
Jermaine Samuels, who scored 22 points, shoots over Hunter Dickinson during Villanova’s victory over Michigan. Getty Images“We don’t care if our shots go in or if our offense is flowing nice, we just care about getting stops,” Daniels said.
The Wolverines — remembering the Alamodome perhaps, where they lost in the 2018 championship game to Villanova — kept hanging in and hanging on.
Gillespie (12 points) had been 3-for-13 on the night, had taken a spill late in the first half and had not scored in the second half, but none of it mattered now, because Michigan had cut its deficit to four before Samuels drove past Dickinson.
Now the ball was in Gillespie’s hands slightly left of center.
Then it was in the basket for a 3-pointer.
It was Villanova 59, Michigan 50 with 1:52 left.
The Winners were 40 minutes from another Final Four.
